Utawarerumono: Natsu to Fuyu
by WakesOfRoteDreams
Summary: Utawarerumono: Natsu to Fuyu. After the events of Mask of Truth, a new power awakened. New heroes were summoned and a new song was sung.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The Empire of Yamato stood for centuries. It was a vast and united land blessed by the gifts of its mysterious ruler, the Mikado. He reigned from the country's founding. He bore gifts of peace and prosperity as well as sounding the drums of war for Yamato's enemies. His gifts were that of knowledge and technology. It was ancient and alien in nature and understood by no one but he. To his Eight Pillar Generals, he bestowed masks that granted terrible power. They enforced his rule on his many vassals as well as orchestrated war in foreign lands. To the peninsula of Nakoku he forged into the sea The Great Bridge of Inava which cut through the angry waters and made land trade possible for the betterment of all.

To challenge the Mikado's rule would require ample madness, but power often begets just that. The animal hybrid inhabitants of Yamato were immersed in an era of peace. Until, by decree of the Mikado, Yamato would invade Tuskuru, their neighboring country by sea. However, as quickly as their power had turned to hubris Yamato suffered swift defeat. It was during this chaotic time that the all-powerful Mikado succumbed to an assassination attempt that mystified his Pillar Generals.

The people of Yamato are still recovering from the Civil War that followed in his wake. The fathers and mothers that would never make it home and the young that would never see old age left the land bruised and desperate, but the struggles were only beginning for those left behind.

The winter and summer seasons became unpredictable and the sun seemed to disappear completely for a time. The tides churned and even the stars were rearranged. Government officials scrambled to distribute lifesaving resources where they were needed most, but the heat scorched and razed farmland. Workers couldn't be long in the sun's renewed anger without risking death. Winds as cold as steel brought frost and creatures out from hiding in the night. The Civil War was over, but the earth was determined to purge Yamato from its back.

However, change is no stranger to the people of Yamato. As sure as the tide once was, they will press on and soon, in a most unlikely place, on a small island off the coast of Shyahoro called Kiyoshima, a discovery will be made that rewrites history for the last time.


	2. Kiyoshima

**Chapter 1**

I casually leaned forward in my seat and covered my mouth as I cursed my opponent. Kawaharu sat patiently across from me with her perpetual head-tilted-eyes-squinted-smile.

"You're as easy to read as a book Kinuito." She said in the tone our teacher uses. I felt my nose flaring of its own will. I've got to stall for time, so I dramatically smack my palm to my forehead.

"That's why I love you Kawa." I laughed and flashed my most mischievous smile. "I, Kinuito, have awaited a worthy opponent. The girl prodigy born for greatness versus the teacher's pet." I could see Kawa's eye twitch. "For you see if I know that you know that I know you're reading me, then I can calculate your every move. How you may ask?" I waved my hands in front of my face. "Why, using my amazing brain of course. And all through mathanatical stathistics!" I shut my eyes and moved my Shogi piece while looking about as confident as wet toast. Truthfully, I was never good at Shogi. Don't tell anyone, but I was pretty bad.

"Please Kinuito, your pronunciation." My teacher, Sensei Shioseki, interjected with a sigh. Losing at Shogi I could handle, but her disappointment hurt.

"With your arithmetic marks? I'm thinking you have a higher chance of meeting Atuykarounkami than beating Kawaharu."

I opened one angry eye and stared daggers at Takaharu, Kawa's twin brother. He was like a brother to me too, though we argued who was older and none of us really knew. I don't know if we girls took more care of him or if he took care of us, but we always stuck together.

"Takaharu, you would do well to make a habit of not throwing the goddess' name at your classmates like waste paper." Sensei Shioseki reprimanded Takaharu. I stuck my tongue at him.

Almost like Atuykarounkami herself was in the room, the Shogi pieces began to rumble and then the shelves of books along the walls of the small classroom. The four of us looked across at each other and held our breath. The quake faded to a stop about as fast as it had started.

"She doesn't scare me." Taka spoke first with a small quiver in his voice. His eyebrows were halfway up his forehead. He crossed his arms and bit the inside of his cheek.

I chuckled mostly to myself, but also to see if Kawa was paying attention. "Don't worry, I think my pieces were here and your pieces were there. Now we can finish our game." I thought I pulled off my ploy flawlessly, but her mouth was open before I finished talking.

"Hey, I know you're trying to cheat!" She jumped forward, gripped the board in both hands, and got into a bear's stance.

Kawa and I go way back, so I know just which hairs to pull. "Wow Kawa. That is so un-lady-like to lose your cool like that, don't you think Sensei?" I could see both of them straining to keep their paper smooth faces unwrinkled.

"Maybe we should call it for the day. I don't think we'll be getting much more done. Thank your opponent and I will ring the bell for the day." Shio has the patients of an angel, though sometimes when she's angry I think it's a fallen angel. I like to think of her as my mom.

"Well Kawa I think we have to call it a draw. Don't you think?" I nudged her with my elbow. She dragged her shoulders, I gave her the biggest, most annoying smile I could conjure, and we both bowed to each other.

"Be careful out there today you three. The earthquakes are getting more frequent and I have things to do, so try not to make me have to come get any of you out of trouble tonight."

Taka waved to us from the doorway. "Thank you Sensei Shioseki. Come on you two I swear you're twin sisters instead of me." Shio nodded and begged us to leave her alone. I could hear her head fall into her hands as we turned to leave.

The three of us headed out like we normally did, but life on the island of Kiyoshima hadn't been normal for a while. I felt like it would be okay as long as I had the Twins and Shio with me though. The weather today was warm, but I could see angry clouds on the horizon. It was even still a little foggy from the morning frost. We would frequently experience summer and winter in the same day. You just had to keep an extra cloak rolled around your waist for emergencies. The island used to be tropical year round, but the weather changes caused most of the plants take a faded brown color. The ocean was still pretty, even as it threatened to pull the island into it with every wave.

We went to the docks to see who felt like feeding the village orphans. I never felt like I deserved charity for being an orphan, but everyone on the island was part of the family of sorts, so I never felt that alone, even after my parents both went off to fight in the Civil War for the Mikado. I would rather not think or talk about it though. What good would that do anyway? On that day, when they told me the news, I think I already knew. I think somehow I could feel it.

The docks were livelier than usual today with a ship in port.

"So, how long are we supposed to wait for this next supply ship? When's the next one scheduled?" I heard the dock workers talking.

"The ship from Shyahoro that came before this one was almost a moon ago. Things are going to get tight around here sooner rather than later. Have you seen what happened to the farm patches?" The other dock worker shrugged and rubbed his forehead. They noticed us perking up our ears trying to listen. "I'm telling you the last ship was just a passenger ship. They barely had supplies to barter for." They motioned us to move along toward the dock kitchen, which was mostly just an open butcher and baker stall that shared soups and bread with us. We looked at each other apprehensively, but listened to our growling stomachs. We knew well when adults didn't want us listening in.

We lined up at the bar on our stools, though we were barely tall enough to eat on them. There were already two people there eating and drinking. Tsurumatsu had his spear resting next to him and nearby was a lady I didn't recognize, but my eyes could hardly avoid her. She wore white robes and her hair was wound up tightly over her head with red bows and red lipstick on her lips and under her eyes. She must be from the visiting passenger ship the dock workers mentioned. Probably from Naaru, the huge capital city nearby, since make up was not common in Shyahoro. Her beauty made me anxious, so I called to Tsurumatsu.

"Are you all behaving yourselves? You know with all this weather the last thing I need is to come get you three out of trouble."

"Why is that always the first thing everyone tells us?" Taka rolled his eyes.

"Sensei Shioseki told us the same thing before we left school today, you two sound alike." Kawa added with a smile. Tsuru faltered while fitting a spoonful of soup into his mouth at the mention of Shio. I couldn't tell if Kawa timed it that way on purpose or not. You never knew with her sometimes.

"You would do well to make a habit of heeding your Sensei then." He maintained his composure, but everyone knew he melted like a snowflake on Shio's tongue.

At the mention of Shioseki the lady with the red make up turned to us. "Oh, you all know Shioseki? I'm actually here to see her. I'm on a secret mission you see." Her eyes smiled along with her, like a mother's would, although she spoke to us like we were half our age. "I'm a scholar in training, just like her."

"Oh, I can show you to the school house, she might still be there." Taka spoke up a little too eagerly. I could see Kawa give him a sideways glance. "Uh, I can catch up with you guys afterwards and we can meet up at the usual place." Kawa and I both cleared our throats. Not in front of Tsurumatsu, Taka.

"We've got to do homework of course." He deftly added, but we both sighed in defeat. Tsurumatsu gave us a knowing glance between bites.

"I think I will accept your offer," she leaned toward us and replied softly "I'm Akafude." I could see Tsuru stoically maintaining his concentration on his food.

We got our soup and bread and thanked the butcher. Taka ate with a particular gusto today, to which Kawa and I exchanged thoughts with our eyes. We waved to Taka and Akafude as they went up the path toward the school house as well as gave him a long, knowing stare. To which he shrugged and assured us he wouldn't be late.

The sun began to set and sent streaks of orange across the sky. At least the sun sets were still beautiful. Tsurumatsu gave us one last "stay out of trouble" and Kawa and I headed out to our usual hang out spot. It was a little ways into the island, past the houses, up a few rocky outcroppings into a perfectly flat plateau just above the tree line. The angry clouds off the shore kept their distance and gave us a perfect view of the sky and the horizon. It was our favorite place to go. Almost like it was part of something inside us. Sometimes we'd spend the whole time silent.

We both let our hair down and listened to the sea breeze shake the trees. In these moments I liked to imagine going on an adventure, like the stories we read in class with Shio about the Mikado. I wished I had some heroic mission to fulfill, but at the same time there was no where I'd rather be than here in my home on Kiyoshima.

"Hey Kawa," I barely got the words out when we heard a stick break and the brush behind us rustle. "Hello, Taka." We both said without missing a breath.

"One of these times I'm going to get you two. Or something else will. What if I was a demon from Denebokshiri?" Taka had two branches in his hands for camouflage and sat next to us.

"Must you use that word? I'm trying to relax." Kawa laid flat on her back. "What were you saying when the demon showed up Kinu?"

"You ever think of leaving the island? Like when you grow up?" I replied without acknowledging Taka making demon faces.

"I don't think so. I mean, what's out there that isn't here?" Kawa was always the most grounded of us three, never taking chances. She wouldn't even swing from ropes into the river with Taka and I. He was definitely the risk taker. I guess I'm sort of like a follower. Maybe a little bit of both of them at times.

"Oh! You actually reminded me of what I was going to tell you guys!" Taka dropped his branches and pounded the ground with his palms. "I heard Shio and that lady Akafude talking before I left. She said they might make everyone leave the island, because it's not safe here anymore, she must have been talking about the weather."

The weather was definitely out of the normal, but we'd been going through it for a while. What could be different now?

"Well, if they think we should go, maybe they know best?" Kawa said looking a bit shaken by the news.

"I thought you wanted to stay on the island." I teased her. I'm not sure how I felt about leaving the island myself. What was really out there? The unknown scared me, but it also kind of excited me. Was leaving the island the journey I'd been day dreaming of?

"You know they say no one ever leaves this island, that's what the sailors from Shyahoro say. That everyone that goes to this island either never leaves and spends their whole life here or they do leave and they die right after." He paused and looked at me apologetically after realizing what he'd said. I smiled halfheartedly. I didn't want to talk about my parents or the Civil War. Not on a good night like this.

We all stopped to think for a moment. As if on cue, we all looked toward the horizon and saw a falling star. Then a light that seemed to come from under the water and up into the sky. We all looked to each other mouths drawn.

"Did you?" I couldn't finish. They both nodded.

"Maybe we should go home." Kawa got up and unfurled her coat from her waist put it on. The sea breeze took a cold turn and Taka and I did the same with ours.

"Oh come on Kawa you're no fun, this is perfect! Let's go down to The Circle. Maybe we'll find something. I brought the torches!" Taka looked to me for the deciding vote. I was more reluctant than I had realized. What had we just seen? Am I going to be a Takaharu or a Kawaharu? This is just how an adventure would start. It would be exciting! We've explored the circle a hundred times before though, so I'm sure we'll be fine, but would this be pushing our luck?

"Well," I pushed the words out of my mouth and grabbed them both by their shoulders "you know what?" I took one of the torches out of Taka's hand. "The last thing the adults need is to come and rescue us, so we'd better take care of ourselves." and I lit the torch.


	3. Old Friends

**Chapter 3**

Shioseki rubbed her temples as the three children scampered out of the classroom. She stretched his arms out high above her head and released a heavy sigh.

"I'd better get to work on my apothecary orders while I still have some free time before Akafude gets here. Her ship was expected this morning, but I haven't heard anything from the docks yet. I hope she's okay, what with the disappearances lately." She shook the thoughts from her head. "Knowing her she's probably drinking already. I'm sure she's fine."

She climbed a small ladder at the end of the classroom and pulled the bell rope to signal that school was finished. Then she walked to the ticket box outside the classroom door and took them inside. Kiyoshima residents could put in requests for mixtures free of charge. Except if it was anything exotic that she would have to order supplies from the mainland for. Her own supplies were organized neatly in large closets by her desk at the front of the classroom. She set up her work space neatly and hummed to herself as she sorted through the tickets and got to work.

A short time later she heard footsteps coming up the path and the familiar sound of Taka's voice. She carefully put down her ingredients to pick up again later.

"Sensei Shioseki I've brought a visitor for you." Taka bounded into the school house doorway, looking especially proud of himself. "Lady Akafude!" He made a show of presenting her as she walked inside.

"Thank you Taka. You don't know how relieved I am to know that Shioseki has an honorable man to look after her." He froze while his cheeks turned a hot red color. His face then slowly turned into a look of terror as his brain resolved the implications of Akafude's teasing. "But Sensei Shioseki is like 100 years old. She could be my grandmother, except she can't cook like one." He puzzled to himself. "You would think cooking would be easy for someone so smart, because she is pretty smart."

"Thank you Taka, you've done so much for Akafude and I already, so that will be enough for today. Please have a safe trip straight home where we will have a teacher student discussion about this later." Shio bore holes into the back of his head with her stare. He promptly tripped over himself getting out of the door and out of immediate danger of the wrath of Shio.

"He's such a sweet boy, no wonder you never want to leave this island." She sat down in a children's chair that was too small for someone of her stature.

"I'm glad you made it here safe Aka, we had another quake today during class, but it was a small one."

"I'm more interested in you," Aka scooted her chair closer. "How have you been? Being here with no family must wear on you, no?" She pouted her bottom lip in pity like Shio was her baby.

"I feel the same way I did the day I came here. I didn't feel like I was making any difference in Naaru. There are already so many scholars there. I wanted to go somewhere that really needed someone. I can do a lot of good here with my own hands. Not pushing papers or allocating funds. It's actually really fulfilling and you should try it! Though, you probably outrank me pretty far. What do you go by now days anyway?"

"Well you are right about one thing, the promotions aren't as fulfilling as they promised to be, but fine drink and good company always fill the hungry void, yeah?" Aka's smile curled into a devilish one.

"No, not even when we were just scribes in the libraries." Shio's motherly voice came out.

"Ah, but the minstrels still sing of my conquests in the Historical Fiction section-" Shio raised her hand and then covered her ears.

"I love waxing nostalgic with you Aka, but I am still known to use sleeping powder with impunity." They both broke their serious facades and laughed together.

"I do love your visits, but what brings you here? I can't imagine that it's good news, is it?" Shio's voice lilted hopefully at the end.

"Now days it never is." She sighed and rose from her chair. "Let me preface with I don't pick the rules or even get to see the information, I just enforce it." She paused to measure Shio's reaction. "I've been instructed by a specific collective called The Fellowship that they have reason to believe the island is no longer safe and must be evacuated. Starting with the children on our ship in the morning and that includes all Scholarship property and personnel. That means you and your kids are all coming home with me, whether you like it or not."

Shio paused in thought. She hadn't received any word or filled any surveys for the Scholarship recently. Where had they gotten this information? The island has been the way it is for some time, so what could have changed? Also, The Fellowship sounded familiar, but only vaguely.

"I suppose the children's safety is the most important."

"Well I'm relieved to hear you see it that way. You really gave this place all you could. Naaru is recovering faster than you'd think. Things are going to be good over there. Even better than here, I can promise you."

"The rest of the island will be taken care of as well, you're sure?" Shio anxiously wrung her hands.

"They will be next in the recovery efforts so I'm told, but you and the children are their priority." Aka took Shio's hands in hers to settle them. "Things will work out; there is no wasted time as long as you enjoyed it."

"You know when you want to be you actually seem like someone dependable." Shio laughed and pushed her away.

"And speaking of enjoyment I know you must have mountains of boring things to take care of before we leave, so I will do my best to have a drink for you at the bar on the docks." Akafude tip toed toward the door as she deftly avoided all work. Shio's face was not a surprised one.

Tsurumatsu slurped the last of his fish broth and chugged his last bit of fruit water.

"I'm off to start my rounds. Can I bring anything back for you?" He hefted his spear and gave it a toss between his hands. The butcher declined and Tsuru thanked him for the meal. The sun was setting, so he jogged down to the beach passed the docks and the houses that were just quieting down for the night. He climbed his way up the coastal rock formations to survey the coastline. The wind grew chilly and he clasped his cloak for warmth.

A little ways down the beach he spied an unusual looking wave and then another and another. Then they started shambling up the coast. He secured his spear to his back and climbed down from his perch.

"Getting started a little early today aren't we boys? It's barely sun down." The three figures came into view with squid-like visages and razor sharp teeth glinting in the light. He gripped his spear in two hands and went into a full spin for momentum. They roared their spittle flecked cries at his approach as his spear head cleaning separated the first from his stomach and he back-stepped the reply from his nearest friend. Luckily intelligence was not these creatures strong suit, but they made up for it in long reach with spider like arms tipped with angry death tipped claws. The third creature launched itself haphazardly at him. He braced his weapon in the sand and caught it mid-flight. The creature's cries were cut short as he maneuvered him into the way of the last of the three standing. For all their weaknesses, cowardice was not one of them. The creature bashed his fallen comrade aside and unleashed a flurry of vicious slashes toward Tsuru. He ducked the first but had to roll away from the second, leaving his spear embedded in the other fallen creature. There was no overpowering these creatures hand to hand. Their long sinewy arms held unnatural strength, but they could be outsmarted. He undid his cloak, lured the creature around so that the beach wind was at his back, and then let it fly into its face. Momentarily blinded the creature swung madly looking for its prey, but by the time the creature regained its sight Tsuru was already behind it with his spear in hand. He gave it a swift end.

He recovered his cloak and sniffed it. The smell would take a day of washing to come out. He wished that was the worst of his problems. These creatures seemed to come from the sea and possibly underground from the inner parts of the island. They were usually in groups and were loud and easy to track for him. Tonight seemed to be off to a busy start and the children were probably already at their usual spot enjoying themselves. He silently protected the island from the creatures for quite some time. Only a few of the inhabitants of Kiyoshima knew of their existence. They wanted especially to keep the children from finding out if they could help it.

Tsuru quietly made his way to the usual hang out spot where he saw Kinu and Kawa laying down while they talked. He looked for Taka and saw he hadn't arrived yet.

"Better to find the boy before trouble finds him." Tsuru stalked through the underbrush of the dead leaves and plants of the subtropical island. He heard tree branches snapping and a voice cursing nearby. He shook his head. He observed Taka struggling to break some low branches off of a tree. Using all his body weight, he finally broke them off. He seemed to be trying to sneak up on the girls ahead, but he only succeeded in impersonating how a crab would walk if it was constipated. He laughed quietly to himself. He was glad that he could help the children experience some innocence in their youth. He'd made it part of his mission on the island to give them a peaceful and as normal as possible childhood.

He heard rustling trees behind him. Then he looked up above through the canopy of leaves and saw disturbed birds flying toward town.

"Yeah tonight is not my night. I'm not going to make it to see Shio before she goes to put the children to bed. Oh well." Tsuru and Shio were friends, for sure. He struggled with his feelings towards her. Never sure of himself or if she felt the same way he did. He decided friends was good for him, but was never sure if he was hurting Shio by doing so. He would frequently keep himself in isolation for days. He didn't want anyone's worry or pity. He felt like sometimes he was chasing part of himself that maybe he didn't really want to face. Shio helped him do that, but it's never easy to face your own shortcomings, much less put them on someone else to help you figure out. It was a continuous cycle.

He danced through the forest, almost completely dark now. He needed no light and no help. He silently put to sleep the nightmare creatures that trudged the forest to haunt the people's dreams. In a way, this was his meditation. This was his inner peace. He had purpose and fulfilled it flawlessly.

When all the forest was hushed with only the whisper of leaves, he headed back toward the town to checked that the kids were headed back. He found a good lookout point and climbed up a sturdy tree. He didn't see the children around, but his eyes caught the glint of three lights deeper into the forest.

"Oh, no. " He thought out loud. "They are determined to dig me an early grave. I hope they know I don't like flowers." He climbed down and sprinted down the path deeper into the night, but he slowed to a walk and then crouched down, listening. The forest was silent now, but not a natural silence. He listened for the whisper of the leaves, but there was none. He peered into the darkest shadows beneath the dense tree tops, and it was not dark. He was met with a pair of red eyes in the now growing moonlight and then another pair and another. The hiding eyes around him multiplied. Five, six, seven. He had never seen them hunt this way before. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and unclasped his spear from his back for the feast.

Shioseki stretched up her arms and yawned wide.

"Okay, quick recheck. All my tickets are done and I've left instructions for everyone on where to find everything. I don't think the place will burn down as soon as I leave." She dusted her clothes off and proudly strode from the school house for the night. It was quite dark now, the children should be back already from their usual escapades. She closed the door and latched it shut, but as soon as she turned around she was greeted by a figure two steps away that was silhouetted by the moonlight. She startled so much she almost fell backwards. Then she noticed the blood, the face, the clothes, and the spear. It was Tsuru, injured with lacerations to his arms and legs. He couldn't manage a word and would have collapsed had she not caught him in her arms.

"Oh Tsuru what have you done?" it wasn't the first time he'd been hurt out in the jungle. "Though, you should know I won't forgive you for dirtying these clothes." She got him inside and laid him on her once clean desk. His abdomen was free of punctures; it was mostly deep slices on his arms legs and back. She sighed and went to get a bucket from the well just outside the room. She cleaned his wounds and applied ointments and then quickly mixed a numbing compound for him to ingest.

"Shio," he groaned. "You're beautiful." She stopped her work on his wounds and smiled.

"Thank you Tsuru. The numbing agent must be working."

"Shio," he said again.

"Yes?" She wrapped his arm in bandage cloth.

"The kids," he tried to lift his head. "The Circle."

Shio stopped for a moment as his words sank in. She cursed her luck and grabbed her cloak from a hanger.

"Tsuru stay here, not that you can move anyway. I'm going to get them, don't worry you'll be okay. They will be okay." She headed off into the night. "I hope."


	4. The Circle

**Chapter 4**

By the time we made it to The Circle it was dark and our torches sent our shadows bouncing behind us. The Circle wasn't anything that special, really. It was, well, a circle with walls a bit too high for us to climb and were perfectly smooth. The walls and ground were like cold stone against your hands. The vines sprawled across everything and completely covered the area. There was one special thing about The Circle though. It had a small divot in the ground that followed along the edge of the wall and for some reason plants refused to go into it, so we decided to name the place The Circle, like the kids that we were. We even tested the divot by putting rocks and plants inside to see if anything would happen. By morning the plants and rocks were always gone. None of us could explain it, so we chalked it up to magic, which is probably more exciting than whatever the real reason was. Sensei Shioseki says magic is just science that hasn't been explained yet. She even makes magic boring.

"You guys." Taka interrupted my train of thought. "I think I found something." Taka waved us over to him. "This cave wasn't here before right? Am I crazy?"

Kawa and I joined him and our mouths fell open. Behind the vines perfectly hidden unless you noticed the shadows cast in the torchlight. It was a cavern. A perfectly smooth, square opening into the wall that went straight back farther than the torches would let us see.

"You think it was the earthquake? There's no way we missed this opening after all this time." I thought out loud and turned to Taka and Kawa. Their expressions could not have been more different. Taka was jumping with excitement to go in and Kawa knew we would end up going in, despite anything she could say, and was dreading it.

"Here Kawa, we'll put out our torches and use Taka's torch. When it goes out we'll light ours and head back to the village. Sound fair?" I hid it well, but I was more than little curious about where this cavern would lead. It was more like a doorway into a house of some kind.

"What if there's another earthquake? It's not safe!" Kawa protested, but before she could continue a shriek sounded in the distance. It didn't sound like any animal I ever heard and we all didn't like the sound of it.

"What was that?" Kawa was already shaking.

"Come on, we should go inside and wait it out." Taka put his arm around her shoulder.

"But we'll be cornered inside the cave!" Kawa squeaked.

"It won't be able to smell us though; we'll be safer out of the wind." I reassured her both for her sake and my own.

We moved the vines out the way and entered the cavern. As I suspected, it didn't feel like a cavern. More like a hallway. All 4 sides perfectly smooth like the walls outside. There were no doors or windows anywhere. I ran my fingers down the wall and didn't feel any cracks. The farther we went, the more I noticed a faint smell like the old books Shio would show to us in class.

We thought we hit a dead end when we saw a second hallway open to the left and far down the way we saw a red pulsing light. It looked the color of fire, but it didn't flicker like it. I strained my ears to see if I could hear it crackling. How could there be fire down here? We looked at each other with a nervous anticipation, except for Kawa of course. She was emphatically shaking her head no.

"Come on let's just go check it out and then we'll leave, I promise." I had to see what it was now. Shio had told us there was ancient technology that the old Mikado would give people and they could do amazing things. What if we found something amazing that could help the island?

The closer we got to the light, the more puzzled I became. It looked like it was coming from some kind of round pebble. Was ancient technology all rocks? Taka looked just as confused as I and was uncharacteristically quiet. Kawa had her hands covering her eyes. It was up to me. I had to touch it. It was like it called my name. I reached out my hand. There was no warmth. This wasn't a fire, it had to be magic.

Just as my fingertips touched the round stone the light turned into a soft white. I stepped back and clutched my hand, though it hadn't hurt me. A moment later a low bell tone came from the rock. The light from the stone turned a solid red color again and we all backed away and huddled together.

"Access Denied. Confirming User Provisions. DNA Authentication Program Error. Connection to Verification Server has Timed Out. Parsing Local Libraries." A voice tone rang into our heads.

"Okay Kawa you win. The game is over. There's nothing here. Let's go home." My voice shook and my bravery vanished into thin air.

"Let's go before it comes back." Kawa could barely get the words out. Even Taka's enthusiasm had faded. We all held hands to steady ourselves, but only made it a couple steps down the hallway. Just as we thought we might be in the clear, the voice toned again.

"Identity Verified. Proxy Detected. Warning: Project Gaia Disaster Recovery Protocol has been engaged. No Provisioned Personnel Accessible. Proxy Privileges Elevated to Administrator Motoo Kimura." The light turned green and the wall behind the orb split in two to reveal a large room behind it. It was lined with what look like windows and possibly dormant machines. Soft blue lighting illuminated the edges of the room. I'm once again drawn in by curiosity.

"Come on Kinu I thought we were going home." Kawa grabs me by the hand.

"You guys seriously don't want to know what's inside. Taka you don't want to know either?" He shook his head and motioned me to him. "Just wait here, I'm going to take a look."

I left them outside and walked the edge of the room. The lights along the floor followed my every step. What could all of this be for? There was one wall lined with large empty slots, but one of them had something in it. Like a smooth ball with two ears sticking out. It had a slight shine to it like it was made of metal. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I stood in front of it and looked back to Taka and Kawa. They both stood unblinking, seeming just as curious as I was now. I reached out to touch the metal ball in front of me and I felt my finger tip press into a soft circular spot on the front. It made a clicking sound when I pressed into it. I pulled my hand away expecting more lights, but nothing happened. I turn to look around the room to see if anything has changed. The room is empty, grey, and silent.

"You're right Kawa, I guess we shouldn't press our luck, plus we can always come back. Let's head home." As I exit the room my stomach drops to my feet. The ground starts shaking. It's another earthquake, but this time much bigger. The next moment I hear humming behind me. Lights all around the room are flashing on and off. The metal orb is shaken out of its slot, but then to all our amazement, it doesn't hit the ground. The orb just floats there above the ground. The earthquake gets stronger and the floor starts to show cracks first. Survival instinct kicks in for all three of us. No time to find out if the flying metal ball is. We've got to get out of here, so we all break into a sprint.

We make it back to the first hallway running at full pace and then I realize none of us have a torch lit. Where is this light coming from? I glance behind me and my eyes almost pop out their sockets when I see the metal orb keeping pace with us. I don't care if it's chasing us or not I scream and startle Taka and Kawa. They see the orb behind us and we all scream as a trio.

We make it out of the cavern, but the divot in the courtyard outside trips up all of us and we land in a heap together. The earthquake seemed pleased that we were out the cavern and it seemed to subside reluctantly.

"I can't believe we're alive." I laugh between breaths and lay down. We're all smiling now and everyone seemed to forget the danger we were in. I sit up, but my breath catches in my throat.

There's a fourth person. There is a boy. There is a naked boy on the ground sitting with us. Taka and Kawa see him too and go silent. We're all speechless for a moment and then Kawa and I scream like witnesses to bloody murder.

"Hello." The boy says waving at us. Taka can't believe his eyes, but he takes off his cloak and hands it to the boy.

"Here! Put this on! How can you not be embarassed, uh, being like that in front of my sister and Kinu!"

"Uh, more importantly, who are you?!" I yell facing the opposite direction.

"My designation is GPACDRU_214916029622116. My function is General Purpose Assistance and Communications Disaster Recovery Unit." The boy stands up now covered by Taka's cloak.

"You were that flying metal ball we found in the cave weren't you?" Taka scratches his head. "I guess if you wanted to eat us you would've done it already."

"I am equipped with a core that produces enough energy for me to never need to consume materials to sustain myself."

"You don't eat?" Taka asks with his mouth hanging open.

"What, you don't sleep either?"

"I am capable of hibernation, but it is not required for maintenance."

"I guess that's a no." Taka looks at Kawa and I still too stunned for words. My mind was whirling. This was a boy in front of me, he looked like a boy, but I knew he was made of metal. He was a floating ball and he must have transformed.

"Okay hold on." I say. "What do we call you? I am not going to remember all those numbers." We all looked at each other and Taka's face lights up.

"What about Haku? That's a heroic name and easy to remember."

"No." I say while my eyes meet with the boys. "Hisa. Hisanaga. That will be your name." The boy looks please.

"Yes. Please call me Hisanaga." Taka turns in surprise.

"He seems to listen to you." I'm as surprised as he is.

"You told us who you are or what you are, but what do you do exactly? Why are you here? Why were you in there?"

"I was activated as part of the Project Gaia Disaster Recovery Protocol. My first priority is to restore the Mission Critical Weather Systems at all costs. However, my logs indicate I have been damaged and I have lost my connection to the Network, so I will require assistance."

"Whoa wait, you can fix the weather?" I exclaim, blinking at the twins.

"It is my purpose."

"What do you guys think?" I look to Kawa who hasn't said a word the whole time.

"We should help him." Taka and I are both slapped with surprise. "He's just an innocent little boy, I mean look at him. Little Hisa." Kawa seems to have completely come to terms with the situation. She approaches him and touches his arm. "May I?" She asks. "Oh, he feels sort of like a person, but a little metallic."

"Kawa are you serious? You can't just go touching him we still don't even know him!" Taka yells maybe a tiny bit jealously if I didn't know him any better.

"Well I say we help him too." I get up and reach my hand out to shake his. "If we help him fix the weather we can save the island. We don't need the adults, you know they already do all they can. With Hisanaga we can do it ourselves." Kawa looks to me and agrees.

"I think it could be dangerous." She thinks for a moment. "But most noble causes are." She looks to me with determination. Taka's head falls in his hands.

"There's no stopping you girls once you agree on something. So what's the plan? What do we say when people see we have another kid on the island completely out of nowhere?" I hadn't thought of that. Surprisingly Kawa pipes up.

"We tell them he stowed away on the passenger ship in the docks. The one Akafude came in on." Taka and I look at Kawa both thoroughly impressed.

"Kawa, I am so disappointed and impressed with you." I put my hands on my hips like a proud teacher.

"Just don't tell Sensei Shioseki." She replies smiling.

"That might work, but it's probably best if you don't talk and only say what we tell you to say. Your voice sounds a little weird and it could give it away." Hisanaga nods.

"Yes, I will only speak when she tells me to." Hisa looks right at Kinu.

"We haven't told you our names yet have we? I'm Kinuito. This is Takaharu and Kawaharu, they're brother and sister."

"Hello, it is fortunate to meet you, how may I be of service?" We all giggle at him.

"Maybe try 'Hi, nice to meet you. How are you doing?'" Hisa repeats what I say perfectly.

"This could actually work." Taka folds his arms impressed.

"We'll sneak on board the ship before it leaves." We all nod in agreement.

"Hey! What are you three doing out here?!" We all wince in pain at the oh-so-familiar tone and voice. It was Shioseki. "Wait until I show you-" Shio pauses when she sees us and Hisanaga. "Oh, who is this? That's a new face. Are you all okay? It's dangerous to be out this late and you know that." I jump in just as planned.

"He stowed away on Akafude's ship. His name is Hisanaga. He's an orphan like us. He has no parents. We just wanted to show him around, right guys?" They all eagerly nod in unison. Shio falls for it easily.

"Oh my, all of you better come back with me then. Tsurumatsu got hurt by some wildlife earlier, so we need to go home now. I may as well tell you the news. I'm sorry you just got here Hisanaga, but we have to leave the island in the morning by order of The Fellowship. It's for everyone's safety." We all stifled back our smiles. Was it really going to be this easy to get off the island? We all put on the most convincing, disappointed faces we could and followed Sensei Shioseki back to town.


	5. Naaru

**Chapter 5**

None of us had ever been on a boat before, which was funny considering we lived on a beach. We were all a little bit nervous, but by everyone I mean just me, Kawaharu.

The most excited I had ever seen Takaharu and Kinuito was the day that we left Kiyoshima and sailed across the sea to another country, Nakoku. Specifically, to the capital city called Naaru. I had seen drawings of it in class with Sensei Shioseki, but I imagined it would be just like our island with more people and buildings, right? We packed some changes of clothes and brought bread to eat for the half day trip. Kinu showed me some fruit I'd never seen before and told me it was from Akafude as a special treat for us. I was glad she was coming with. She always seemed so laid back and nothing fazed her.

Hisanaga, the boy we met in The Circle was fitting in well. Nobody knew our secret, as far as I could tell. Kinuito was still getting used to having him around though. He followed her and asked if he could be of any help constantly. He picked up a huge sack of rice by himself for a moment and we all scrambled to get him to drop it before anyone saw.

That does worry me a little. He looks like an ordinary little boy, so I forget that he's some kind of machine. He doesn't seem dangerous, but I don't want to know what would happen to him if anyone knew what he was. That's why we all promised to protect him.

"Can I try steering the ship?" Taka climbed up the mast and shouted to Captain Tanefusa. He only grumbled to himself in reply. He's not much of a people person.

Shio double checked all of her belongings; she brought a lot of equipment and ingredients from the school house. It almost looked like she was moving away and wasn't coming back. I turned and looked back towards the island we all grew up on. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to it, not yet. So I promised myself that I'd come see it again someday.

"Shio," Akafude raised an eyebrow at her. "You aren't forgetting anything are you?" Shioseki lifted her head from her checklist.

"Wait, am I forgetting something?!" She panicked and Aka laughed.

"Anyone?" Her eyes squinted and she pretended to look up and down the docks. Shio saw her meaning and calmed down.

"I didn't tell Tsurumatsu. I do feel bad leaving without telling him, but I know he'll be okay. Besides, I know he would never abandon the island. It's become his home. All of our homes."

"He might abandon it for you though." I heard her whisper as she walked away with a smile. "Captain Tanefusa! We're ready to be underway at your call." She proclaimed with a commanding voice I'd never heard from her.

"You heard our fair lady boys. Ready up!" The replies came down the line as all the sailors and dock hands scrambled to untie the ship and pulled away the gang planks. The sails unfurled and cracked like whips as they tore white holes in the blue sky. If I didn't know any better, and I certainly did not, I'd say it was a good day for sailing.

The trip started uneventful. Kinu walked Hisa around the boat explaining things like he didn't know the water or the sky were blue, but he happily followed along nodding and smiling. Taka started off full of energy and stories. He retold every sailor's tale he knew to Akafude and Shioseki, who both had heard all of them probably a dozen times before. We started to hit some waves shortly after leaving port and the ship rocked from bow to stern, forward and backward. I held onto the rails to balance myself. Taka ran up and down the deck grinning from ear to ear until he had a sudden change of heart. I saw the color drain from his face and he patted his stomach. He swallowed hard and turned to look my direction. I smiled and he gave me the thumbs up, but then immediately had to cover his mouth as he frantically ran to the portside to feed the fish. He was like that the rest of the trip.

I noticed Akafude kept a small flask tucked in her belt and she constantly reached for it to drink. I even spotted Sensei Shioseki taking a couple sips and saw her promptly run to edge of the boat to spit. I'd never heard Akafude laugh so hard.

Kinu and Hisa stood at the bow of the ship with arms stretched wide in the blustering sea wind. The ship crested the biggest wave we'd seen yet and it had me holding on for dear life. I opened my eyes and looked toward the bow to make sure they were still there, but I couldn't see them through the thick spray of the waves. My heart stopped for a moment when they didn't reappear, but just as the mist dissipated they were there laughing hysterically. I wondered if maybe I had been worrying too much. Things seemed to be going well so far. Kinuito kept calling it our great adventure. I couldn't help but feel like it was a bad omen to call it so, but seeing everyone happy on the ship together gave me hope.

Later in the day, we finally arrived in Naaru and not a cloud was in the sky. We had braved a small squall on the way that made us hide below deck in the storage rooms, but it just helped us build character, as Captain Tanefusa put it. Taka was especially miserable during that. I rubbed his back and Shioseki gave him what medicine she could, but he couldn't hold anything in.

I had never seen a city so large. I wasn't even sure if I could see where it ended. I shuddered to think how much bigger Yamato actually was. The people moved like swarms of ants. I knew everyone on the island in Kiyoshima by name, but I couldn't imagine doing that here. It would be impossible. The ship docked and teams of workers flooded inside. Akafude raised her hand and signaled all of us to follow her lead. We wove our way through the docking area together and I saw Taka kiss the ground.

"I'm never getting on a boat as long as I shall live." He looked up to the sky and offered up his prayer. Kinu blessed him on the back of his head with a slap. "Hey! You want a better look at the sea water? I'll help you take a swim Kinu!" He shook his fist at her.

"No thanks Taka." Kinu plugged her nose. "But maybe you should. I think you need a bath."

"Har har har." Taka laughed like a pirate with a face empty of expression. Our eyes wandered the street vendors and bars. We smelled and saw food and candy of shapes and colors we'd never seen.

"The city is a marvel." Akafude turned to us as if reading all our minds. "You're free to explore if you wish. Though the city is large and I wouldn't go too far from the university campus. The city is still recovering from the war. It's left some of the unfortunate desperate."

"I just want a bed that doesn't sway back and forth." Taka raised his hand.

"You can come to the compound with me then." Aka offered, "I have never ending tedium awaiting me after all. I shall not keep it waiting. Is anyone else coming with?"

"I'll stay with Taka, I wouldn't want him to be alone." I put my hand on his head and he swatted it away.

"I'll escort Kinuito and Hisanaga then." Shioseki grabbed them both by the hand.

"I'll find you on campus later, but don't stay out too late. Oh, and if you do get into trouble Shio, please don't mention my name. It'll probably do more harm than good. Have fun!" I paused and thought for a moment. What was that supposed to mean? Akafude sure must have a reputation here in Naaru. She waved as she led Taka and I away. I heard Shio say something to Hisanaga.

"Why is your hand so cold? Are you sick too?" She put her hand to his head.

"Oh no I'm fine; I guess I'm just nervous about being in such a big new place." He laughed nervously. "Right, Kinuito?" He signaled her for help. I saw panic in her face.

"Oh wow, look at that candy stand over there!" And Kinu pulled them both away. I couldn't help but laugh at her attempt to distract Shioseki. She might already have known, she was hard to trick, but I couldn't be sure. Taka called me to catch up and we followed the lines of people navigating the grand streets of Naaru.

We arrived shortly at a grand building that looked different than the others. It had a round looking roof instead of a traditional pointed one. Akafude motioned us to follow her closely. We were greeted by the guards at the front gate. They saluted her respectfully as we passed. I wondered just how high rank she was. I couldn't tell if she was humbled or embarrassed by the formalities each passing student gave us as we walked through the courtyard. She was definitely held in high regard. It looked like it could hold a thousand people, so it looked empty with just a few students and us in it.

"We're short staffed with all the rebuilding going on, so it's mostly students studying to become scholars." Akafude gestured to the multiple floors of classrooms on all sides of us.

"Do they teach students magic here?" I couldn't help myself from asking.

"Oh yes, but we don't call it magic. It's called Thaumaturgy." She answered me matter-of-factly. Expecting a sarcastic response, I blinked and waited for her to laugh and tell me she was kidding, but she was serious.

"Whoa wait, so does Sensei Shioseki know magic?" Taka was just as surprised.

"That's a great question that you should probably ask her. I'm sure she'd love that." She smirked and gave Taka a wink. "The dormitories are this way. The rooms should be prepared for you. I'll come get you for dinner. If you need me I'll just be on the 4th floor." We continued down a long hallway lined with rooms. She stopped and opened one of them, seemingly at random, for us. "Enjoy!"

We entered and Taka fell flat on his back on one of the two beds.

"Tell everyone not to wake me up until dinner, Kawa. I think I'd sleep for a whole day if you let me, though." Taka pulled the covers over his head.

"No problem, dear brother." I teased him. "I do hope the medicine helps." Just then, two short knocks came at the door. "Oh, did Akafude forget something?" I opened the door and instantly my stomach twisted into knots. I only saw them for a moment. They wore helmets that covered their eyes with only small slits to see. A bag went over my head.

"Taka!" was all I managed to get out before a rope was forced between my teeth. My hands were quickly bound behind my back. I heard Taka struggling against the other intruder, but I couldn't see what was happening. I was shoved from behind into the wall and I heard Taka hit the wall next to me. I could hear he was already gagged as well. I twisted my hands to reach for him, but he was too far away. They pulled me from the wall and forced me to walk. My heart was beating into my ears. I caught myself losing my balance and my head felt light as air. When I thought I might pass out they would jab something sharp into my back. Terrified, I obeyed.

I tried to keep track of how many turns we look and how many doors we entered, but I lost count. I tried to listen for Taka nearby but I couldn't be certain where he was. They must have been communicating silently, because our captors said not a word the whole way. I thought we might have been walking down a ramp more than once. When we stopped they forced me to the ground.

"Is this them?" I heard the voice of an older man.

"Candidates for Kamunagi, sir. The ones from Kiyoshima."

"We haven't had successful fraternal twins in some time." The old man sounded pleased with himself. "Let's start with the girl."

They grabbed me by my hands and pulled me up. I begged in muffled pleas for mercy. My chest heaved and my breaths were quick and shallow. Two of them picked me up and pinned me to a long metal table. I felt cold bindings around my ankles and hands fasten tightly. Metal pins touched my temples and the top of my head. There was a small pin's prick of pain as it broke skin. My thoughts suddenly felt jumbled like I had words on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't find them. I tried to remember something important I thought I had forgotten, but it escaped me. Was this a dream? It felt like my head was trying to make sense of everything at once, shifting puzzle pieces together. Then the pain came. Scorching fire to the back of my neck and arcing down my spine and then I did finally pass out.

I awoke lying on my side. I felt a collar of metal around my neck. My clothes felt different. They definitely weren't mine. I looked around and still couldn't see a thing. I didn't have a bag over my head anymore, but my eyes and head were throbbing. Was I buried in a hole? I panicked and felt my surroundings with my hands.

"Taka?" I could barely whisper.

"Kawa!" I heard him yell. He must have been close by. "I'm here, right across from you!" I turned my head toward where his voice was coming from.

"Where? I can't see you?" I crawled forward leading with my hands.

"Look at me, I'm over here." Taka clapped his hands and I turned my head toward the sound. "Oh no," I could hear his voice crack. "Kawa, your eyes." he began to cry.

"What is it Taka? Tell me." I felt metal bars in front of me and shook them in futility.

"They're all white. I think they blinded you." He let out a scream of anger. I put my hands to my mouth, then touched my eyes. They were there, but I saw nothing.

"Taka," My mouth felt dry and mechanical. "What's going to happen to us?" My body trembled and though my eyes could no longer see, my tears could still flow.


	6. The Library

**Chapter 6**

Tsurumatsu's eyes fluttered open. He took a moment to realize he was still inside the school house and remembered getting there and Shioseki tending his wounds, but nothing else. Did he call her beautiful to her face? The sunlight from the window interrupted his embarrassment, something was odd. Shouldn't she be here in the classroom by now? It must have been mid-morning at least. The kids! Were they okay? He fought with his back telling him to stay lying down, but once he was sitting up he scooted off the large desk he'd slept on. His sore neck thanked him for that. He checked his arms and legs and they were surprisingly unpainful. Shio always did great work, but he hated to be a burden. He was lucky he didn't awaken with fever considering the circumstances.

He figured he'd find out what's going on at the docks in town. He grabbed his spear to lean on it as he walked with a slight limp. He made it slowly there and saw Tanefusa's ship preparing to go underway. He looked around and didn't see any of the children, so he approached the butcher.

"Where is everyone today? I had quite a night." He leaned on the bar.

"Tsuru? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be going with everyone?" The butcher put down the fish he was descaling.

"Going where with who?" He wrinkled his nose at the fish.

"The scholars, Shioseki, they're taking the kids to Naaru. They're saying the island's not safe anymore. There's supposed to be a ship coming to take everyone off the island too. To be honest, I don't think anyone's going to leave though. You know how most people feel." The butcher shrugged his shoulders and started back on his fish. "And what are you doing standing here? Go to Shioseki. I know you want to go with her." Tsuru was taken aback.

"She didn't even tell me though." He looked to the ship as it pulled away from the dock. "Maybe I'm supposed to stay here and protect the island. To protect you all. What would you do if I left?" Tsuru pointed to the butcher as he questioned him.

"I may just be a simple man, but even I know you're not here to protect the island." He said with his eyes unblinking. "We'll be fine. We can defend ourselves. You know none of us are leaving. If this island goes down, so do we. It's just how it's meant to be." He smiled at Tsuru. "Now go to Shioseki and those children. They need you. Not the island." The butcher turned away from Tsuru and disappeared into his shop.

Tsurumatsu couldn't think of any argument, but his mouth hung open in protest anyway. He looked out to the sea at the boat Shio and everyone was leaving on.

"I'll miss your cooking." Tsuru grunted to the butcher then bounded down to the docks, forgetting his injuries. He heard none of his aches or pains. He listened only to his heart. He untied a rowboat, grabbed the oars, and rowed with all his might. The waves pushed him back and slowed his progress, but he roared in defiance even as his arms burned in protest. He looked behind him and saw a rope dragging from the ship as he started to gain on it. He reached out with his hand and gripped onto it as best he could. The rope's fibers cutting into his fingers as it pulled him out of the dinghy. Reach by reach he pulled himself up the rope, the waves pushing him underwater. His lungs fighting the urge for air. He reached the back of the boat, pulled himself over the edge, and fell on his back.

"Atuykarounkami! Who are you?!" A sailor exclaimed when he saw him. "Wait, Tsurumatsu? What are you doing here?"

"Tanefusa," Tsuru spit out some sea water. "I'd appreciate it if you gave me a ride." He smiled wryly. "And also don't tell anyone that I'm here."

"Why in the-" He put his finger to his forehead. "Look, you two just need to get married. I'm tired of being the go between guy. Is this about Shioseki?"

"Just let me talk to her in my own time." Tsuru nodded. "I will talk to her. There's just a lot going on right now. I mean look at me, she did leave me behind." Tanefusa clicked his tongue.

"Well you probably deserved it." He turned away. "Head down to the cargo deck. I'm sure there's a box you can hide in, little mouse."

"Thank you." Tsuru struggled to his shaking feet and snuck below deck without anyone noticing.

"Sensei Shioseki can you please buy us a candy? I'll clean your ears or anything you want!" I clapped my hands together as I begged. Her expression was worth a thousand words, except for yes. "Come on!" I reached for her ear with my fingers, to which she squealed and karate chopped them away. Hisanaga laughed at us. He learned quickly how to interact with everyone. I taught him the important stuff like what foods taste the best and not to pick your nose. I dared him to the try and lick his elbow, but he could actually do it. We still had to be careful around Shio of course.

"Maybe we can ask Akafude later, I'm not sure about the money situation yet." Shio turned around and started scanning the area.

"What is it?" Hisa was the first to ask.

"I thought maybe we were being followed." she turned to Hisa and I. "Sorry, you know me I'm just an over protective mother. It's nothing to worry about. Let's see what else is down this way." Hisa and I agreed, but eyeballed the people around us. They all looked like they were going about their business. How could you tell if you were being followed? I was confident Shio could take care of us, she always did.

We walked past even more food and candy stalls and even a puppet show that was going on. It was the story of the False Mikado during the Civil War. It had some jokes I didn't understand and made Shio blush. Then a man came around with a hat full of coins and he offered it to us

"Is that money for us?" I looked to Shio.

"Oh I'm sorry I don't have any money with me. Come on children, this show seems to be for a different age group anyway." She looked to the man embarrassed and ushered us away. I heard him curse after we were some distance away, which left me even more confused. We kept on down the road and entered less busy area with fewer stalls scattered about. Shio put her hands on both our shoulders.

"Don't turn around, but I think someone is following us." My spine stiffened. I resisted with all my might not to turn around.

"The one on the right side with the bluish cloak and hood?" Hisanaga responded coolly. Shio blinked with surprise.

"Yes, that one." She paused and regarded His. "We're going to go down the alley here and then slip out after he passes. Ready?" We both nodded like little soldiers. We turned down the alley like we planned, rounded another corner, and then entered a book shop. I'd never seen so many colorful book covers. Some of them had black paper covering them up and Shio slapped my hand when I tried to pick one up. She wouldn't explain why.

"Okay, I don't see him, wait here and I'm going to check." Shio gave us both serious looks and we nodded. My stomach was nervous and I thought I might pull a Takaharu all over the store. I calmed down thought about taking another look at the forbidden books, but Hisa shook his head at me.

"I thought I was the one in charge?" I put my hands on my hips. Just then Shio came bursting back into the shop. She looked furious.

"Come on. We're going back to the university." Hisa and I looked at each other. Praying it wasn't something we had done. We tip toed out of the book stall and couldn't believe our eyes.

"Tsurumatsu?" We both said.

"Hey guys." He half smiled and nervously scratched his head.

"Let's go." Shio said to us, walking past Tsuru. "I can't believe you did that to me. I really thought we were being followed. What if we really were and something happened?" Shio threw her hands into the air.

"I'm sorry!" Tsuru kept repeating. Hisanaga and I exchanged glances and held in our laughter. They argued the whole way back to the university about who left who behind, but we made it to the front gates.

"Hello, I am Scholar Shioseki of Kiyoshima. Akafude is expecting us." She bowed.

"She is expecting you. You may come in, and the children, but who is this?" They pointed to Tsuru an looked at his spear on his back.

"He is Tsurumatsu also of Kiyoshima. He is family." They looked him up and down, obviously a little thrown off by his bandages and dirty clothes. They nodded and let us in. Shio shook her head once we were inside.

"I literally can't take you anywhere." She pointed her finger in his face. He apologized again profusely.

"Come on Sensei, anymore and he's going to start kissing your feet." I played diplomat to mend their broken bridges occasionally.

"There's still some time before dinner will start." Shio changed the subject. "Why don't we spend some time in the library?"

"That sounds like fun." Tsuru tried to look excited for her. "I'd love to read." He didn't.

She led the way to the library after asking for directions. Once we got there I was pretty impressed. Books were stacked on massive shelves so high you'd need a ladder to reach them. I couldn't imagine having a test on each one. The idea made my head spin.

"No wonder Sensei Shioseki is so smart since she loves the library." Hisanaga spun around taking it all in.

"Thank you Hisa, at least some people have a real appreciation for it." I could see the electricity still between her and Tsuru. I let them be and followed Hisa as he marveled at the massive collection.

"There may be information here that can help us." He whispered to me. I hadn't thought about that.

"Yeah, so what exactly are we looking for? I know we're supposed to be helping you, but what exactly are we doing and how are we going to do it with Shio and Tsuru around?"

"I can't talk to the main server, so I don't even know what's going on." He tried to think of a way to explain it so I could understand. "There should be a bunch of me's all trying to fix the weather. I can't tell where any of them are though. We can all talk to each other like we're connected. If I can somehow talk to the ones up in the sky maybe they can help." We talked in low whispers as we walked between the shelves of books. We turned into the Historical Fiction section and who should we bump into but Akafude.

"Hey you rascals, you caught me taking a break, I promise I have been doing work. You just always catch me at the wrong time." We both laughed as she hid her bottle in her pocket.

"You don't have to worry about us tattle tailing." Hisanaga said. I saw his eyes instantly catch onto something though. A tall round arched paper smooth wall behind Akafude. In fact, it looked just the same color as the walls at The Circle. That struck me as strange too. Why would something like that be here in the university? Just then Shioseki and Tsurumatsu rounded the corner as well.

"I thought I heard a drunk over here." Shioseki smiled.

"Oh Tsurumatsu, was it? I'm so glad you made it." Akafude smiled wide at Shio.

"Excuse me," Hisanaga interupted. "But what is that?" He pointed to the wall behind Aka.

"Oh these walls are scattered all over the university. It was actually built on top of an ancient ruin from a long time ago. If you touch it you can tell it feels different from other stone." Hisa seemed entranced by the wall. He walked up to it and reached out his hand. I noticed his fingers slowly light up as he got closer.

"Oh no." I said out loud and covered my mouth when everyone looked at me. The edge of the door light up with a soft blue light, reacting to Hisa's touch, and opened up.

"Uh, who is this kid, what did this kid just do, and is that even a kid?" Tsurumatsu looked around like he was the only one seeing it.

"Impossible." Akafude was stunned. "What are you?" She backed away from Hisanaga. He wasted no time and walked into the doorway.

"Wait!" I chased after him. Shio tried to stop me but I slipped pasted her. Everyone followed after me and we ran down the hallway. I heard the door slide shut behind us. We turned a corner into a wide room. There was two unusually dressed people with helmets that covered their eyes with tiny open slits to see.

"Identify yourselves. You can't be here." One said in a deep voice as they both stepped closer. Everyone fell in behind me and Hisa. He was unsure what to say and looked to me for help. I was more clueless than he was. Luckily Akafude spoke up.

"Apologies, it's me Akafude. I was giving them a tour and we stumbled upon this hallway. The door was unlocked."

"Impossible." They said. "You're going to have to come with us." I could see Hisanaga begin to panic. He looked to the door behind them, reached out his hand, and the door slid open. Both of the guards cursed and ran to grab him. The first grabbed his arm, but he casually grabbed the guard's hand and twisted it effortlessly. He screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor. The second took a small device from his belt. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't stand to see anyone else hurt.

"Hisanaga stop!" I yelled and he froze.

"He takes your commands Kinu?" Shio asked. Everyone else looked to me, speechless. Three more guards came out of the door behind them yelling commands. Everyone put their hands on their heads and knelt to the ground. Hisa turned to me with defeat and worry on his face. The guard with the strange device in his hand came up behind him and put it to his neck. Blue light arced between him and the device. His eyes went blank and he fell to his knees. A guard grabbed me and pressed me to the wall.

"Kinuito!" Hisanaga screamed as his I watched his body go limp, His mouth silently moving, repeating my name.

"Hisanaga!" I screamed as tears fell from my eyes.

And he slowly morphed back into a floating metal sphere.


	7. Culmination

**Chapter 7**

The silence hung in the air between them. Shioseki sat in a chair facing Akafude's empty desk. Tsurumatsu stood cross armed looking down on the courtyard from the 4th floor office window. They heard muffled voices in the next room over. Akafude was trying to work her magic with her influence to get them out of trouble and hopefully figure out what was going on.

"If only I'd been here sooner. If you would have told me-" He began.

"Okay, Tsuru. I know, I thought I was doing well by you and the island. Things weren't easy there, but I know you love the island. We all do."

"Well, big difference my being here was anyway. I couldn't keep Kinuito or the boy." He tightened his fist and chewed his lip.

"Don't blame yourself for that. I should have given you the choice of coming with us. I'm sorry I took that choice from you, even if things would have turned out the same." Shio paused searching for the words to say. "I'm happy you're here now." She noticed his posture relax at the words.

The side door to the office swung open and Akafude quickly closed it behind her breathing like she'd just run up the stairs. They both turned to her in anticipation. She held her finger up begging for a moment as she put her hands on her knees, still catching her breath.

"Oh come on already Akafude!" Shioseki threw her hands in the air. A few moments too many passed. "Where are my kids?"

"Shio, I'm sorry." She walked over to her desk and pulled a bottle from her drawer. "You're going to want to stay seated." Tsuru and Shio exchanged worried looks.

"First, I got as much info out of them as I could. Second, I got you two out of hot water. How much have you heard about The Fellowship?" Aka took a swig from her bottle.

"Just that it's a collective for overachieving academics? This isn't some conspiracy theory is it? If it is I'm not buying it." Shio stood up from her seat. "I want my kids back and if I have to get the local authorities involved I will. Throw my Scholarship to the flames."

"You should follow your intuition more often. I'll tell you what I know." Akafude put her bottle back in its drawer. "They get anything they want. Look at this whole university. Did you see how many students we have? This place would have been shut down long ago. Naaru is big, but every student wants to go to Yamato. The ones who can't come here and not all of them can even pay. The Fellowship pays for everything here. They need something; they get it, no questions. I'm the head of this facility, but they don't answer to me." She hesitated before she continued, gauging their reactions. "I hope you believe me, because I knew it was fishy when they asked me to personally go get you and the children from the island, but when they talk, you listen. I swear to you I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?" Tsurumatsu slammed his fist on her desk and almost touched noses with her. She closed her eyes in response. Shio sat silent. Afraid of the answers she may not want to hear.

"The twins have been selected for a program and they're using a war-time local law to do it. Legally, the twins have been drafted. They are Fellowship members now. They may as well be soldiers taking orders from a general. There's no getting them out once they're conscripted." Shioseki's face blanched. "I don't know any other details other than that they're still here. I am sorry Shio." Shio could see Aka's mouth trembling at her own words.

"And what about Kinuito?" Tsurumatsu demanded with both palms on her desk.

"Yes," Aka held back her tears and collected her thoughts. "They've also taken interest in Kinuito after seeing her and the boy reacting with the ruins. I'm as confused about that as you are. They assured me their safety and they promised to let us see them when they're ready."

"When they're ready?!" Tsurumatsu turned from her and bit back his tongue.

"I think we both know that isn't good enough, Akafude." Shio said after she found her spirit. Aka face turned to surprise at her confidence. "So I think the question that you have now is 'are you going to help us break into your own school to get my children back'?"

o o o

"Hello, I will be the proctor for your tests today. No need to worry about names." Kawaharu sat up and covered her shoulders with her hands. The cells her and Takaharu were kept in were hard and cold.

"You and your tests can go to denebokshiri." Takaharu spat.

"We'll start with the boy today then." They unlocked his cell and two guards grabbed him by the arms. He had no strength to fight back. "Yeah give me all you've got. I'm not scared of you." They began locking his arms and legs in place on the same table from before. The head pins locked into place. Taka made no sound.

"This one doesn't seem to be showing any signs of latency it seems. Nothing is manifesting, yet. It's a real shame too since twins hold the most potential. Begin phase one." Taka screamed as the burning pain arced down his spine. Kawa couldn't bear to hear it. She covered her ears and failed to hold back her tears. She began to see flashes of light in her vision. Stars of all different colors floated around in her mind. She focused on one and she began to see a hazy shape slowly come into focus. She could see her brother's outline and then his face and then the other three figures standing in the room. She startled herself and lost the image. Colored swirls of stars whirled in her head. She thought of Kinuito and Hisnaga and a twinkling star stopped in front of her. She reached out to it and felt herself free falling, her stomach catching in her throat. She came to a sudden stop and saw them together with another man that wasn't familiar. They were in some sort of flying room. No, they were falling, going down. Some sort of lift was taking them down into the ground.

"What is this?" She thought out loud. "Am I doing this? How is this possible?"

"Okay that's enough. He's not getting through phase one. Put him away and we'll try the girl again." Takaharu's breath was slow. He couldn't manage any more smart remarks. They dragged him to his cell and let him collapse to the floor.

"No," he breathed. "Don't touch my sister you creep." He lifted himself up by his arms but couldn't move his legs and he fell flat again to the floor. The two guards took Kawa by the hands and she obeyed. They restrained her to the table and began the test.

"Oh, we're getting something here." The man stood in front of a large screen with scrolling words and lines moving up and down. Kawa tried to use her new sight to see anything that might help her. "We're getting Clairvoyant waves with her. A shame she had such poor side effects. She may be useful still." She could see him stroking his chin. "Stop the test." He turned and approached her. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She could now easily see that he was holding up four fingers. She wasn't sure if she should answer truthfully or play dumb. "Come now, I know you can do it."

"Three?" She said. The man smiled and stood silent.

"That's okay. We'll try again tomorrow and the next day and the next day." He stepped so close to her she could feel his breath. "Until she finally decides answer truthfully we'll wait." He held back a laugh. "If not, we have ways of making use of your powers." He turned and the guards put her back into her cell. She waited until they left the room and she could hear Takaharu shuffling himself up in his cell.

"Taka, I don't know how to explain it." She struggled to find the words. "But I can see you. I can even think of Kinuito and then I can see her too. I don't know why though. What are all these tests for?"

"That must be what they're looking for." Taka winced as he got to his feet. "You've got to get out of here, I'm sure you'll get the chance if you play their game." She could see him smiling to himself. "Just go with them next time. I'll find my own way out. I can't just sit here while they torture you. Don't make me go through that, Kawa."

o o o

The windows sped paste them as they descended. Kinuito stood next to an elderly man on the circular platform. Kinu marvelled at the size of the buildings outside the windows. She couldn't wrap her head around there being a city underneath the university. She looked again to Hisanaga in his metallic ball form, silent and motionlessly floating.

"Kinuito," The man pulled her from her thoughts. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions." he chuckled to himself. "And I have answers." The platform came to a halt and the doors behind them slid open. "Come, you are no prisoner here." She followed behind him and pulled Hisanaga along with them. There were dozens of people seated in front of windows lit up with scrolling numers and letters. She couldn't make sense of any of them.

"I don't think I'd know how to begin my question." Kinu followed the man farther down into another room. "Who are you I guess?" He turned and smiled at her.

"Come this way and I will answer that and more." he took a small hand held device from a nearby desk. "Will you let me prick your finger? Here I'll do it to myself first." He pressed the device on his fingertip and drew a drop of blood. Kinu slowly extended her hand and he did the same to her finger. An assistant came to his side and he gave them the device.

"We are The Fellowship, a collective dedicated to the preservation and protection of all knowledge and people, forever striving for lasting peace. You can call me Gennai." Kinu put her bloody finger in her mouth.

"What about Hisanaga? What did you do to him and why do you need me?"

"This is the question of utmost importance and leads to a question that I have for you." They continued through the room and Gennai entered a code into the wall to open the next door. Inside was the last thing Kinuito would have expected.

"You see, you are special Kinuito, probably just like your parents tell you." In the back of the room the wall was lined with slots into the wall and inside each slot was a metallic orb with two ears sticking out, just like Hisanaga. There must have been one hundred of them.

"I'm an orphan, but I do remember them telling me I was special. Isn't everyone?" Kinu was fixated on the wall of Hisanaga's.

"I am sorry for that. We have all paid a price for the Civil War, but as destiny would have it Kinuito, we actually need your help." The man grew serious and she turned to him. "We must ensure that a Civil War will never happen again. Or any war for that matter. Did you know that your friends, the twins Takaharu and Kawaharu, have already joined us in this quest?"

"Taka and Kawa know about all of this?" Kinu put her hand to her head. All of this was too much for her to take in at once. She dreamed of going on an adventure, but she didn't feel ready to dedicate her life to the cause. She turned to Hisanaga wishing she could talk to him.

"They didn't give it a second thought." He nodded to her. His assistant came to his side with a stack of papers that he leafed through. "In fact, just you by yourself could be the key to it all. What if we could do something speicla for you in return? Maybe offer you something you've lost?" He looked up at her with eyebrows raised. Kinu looked down and thought to herself what he could mean. "What if we could bring back your parents? I can see your mother Yayoi and your father Yasuzumi."

"How could you do that?" She couldn't believe her ears.

"We recently made an amazing discovery here. We have access to miraculous knowledge that even rivals the legends of the Mikado. We can do that for you, if you wish it." He smiled and held out his hand.

"Show me more, what is this place? What are all of those Hisanaga's on the wall?" And she took his hand.

"We have gathered them from across the continent. We can even track their locations, but all of that is nothing compared to what you may help us achieve." They stopped in front of a giant window that suddenly lit up in front of them.

"From that blood sample you gave us earlier we were able to find your parents and we can trace your heritage all the way back to ancient times. Your bloodline has been blessed with permissions to access the a power that could stop all war forever." He gestured to the scrolling information on the giant window. "Kasai, a tool that we stumbled upon that can monitor all inhabitants of Yamato. It would allow us to stop any war from happening before it ever started." Kinu thought for a moment.

"Kasai? You mean you could read everyone in the whole world's mind?"

"Even more so, we could stop them from even acting on evil thoughts. It would be the ultimate ruler. We would no longer need a Mikado, we could govern ourselves. Be free of all worry and live forever in safety!" He raised his hands in excitement. "But we haven't been able to access it. With your blood Kinuito, we could make the world a better place. No more orphan children. Think of all the people that were lost in the Civil War, all those wrongs could be undone! You would stand as a god before us with this great weapon." Kinu's head whirled. She didn't want all of this responsibility, but she could have her parents back? How could she say no? She balled her fists as she wracked her mind for an answer, but failed to find what she needed. She turned instinctively again to Hisanaga while still a levitating orb and it got her thinking.

"What did you do to Hisanaga? Can you bring him back to me as well?" She touched the floating ball, but it did not respond. Gennai lowered his head.

"I am afraid you ask the impossible of me, my child." He slowly turned to her.

"There is a reason we have gained access to these tools. We have found it to be called the Project Gaia Disaster Recovery Protocol. It is the reason you found your little friend. After the events of the Civil War, the Drones you see here activated to carry out the Protocol, to bring the weather back." Kinu tilted her head still confused. "We've determined that should these Drones complete their mission. The Disaster Recovery Protocol will be turned off and we will lose access to these powerful tools for world peace." It all dawned on her then.

"So you won't fix the weather? Hisanaga can never come back?" She held her breath and looked toward the floating mettalic ball. She could almost hear his voice in her head.

"My child, with your power, nothing will be impossible. We can fix all that once we determine how far your access goes. With Kasai maintaining peace throughout the world, nothing would be out of our reach." He slowly walked toward her hands outstretched. Kinu's soul seemed to well up inside her. It told her this was not right and that this was not justice.

"I don't believe you. I won't help you enslave the world!" She said clenching her teeth and her fists. "Hisanaga!" She yelled as loud as she could. "Hisanaga!" She yelled again. Gennai laughed at her attempt.

"If you cannot willingly help us save the world, we have ways of changing your decision." His smile turned to a smug one.

"Hisanaga!" The dry air scratched at her throat as she forced it out of her lungs. Gennai continued to laugh and before he could say another word a strange thing happened.

"Hisanaga." Kinu commanded one last time solemnly. She stood her ground in a last stand and put both her hands on Hisanaga. "Please, wake up." The metallic ball lit up. And ninety-nine other metallic balls did the same.


	8. The Fellowship

**Chapter 8**

"We've lost access to the lower levels. It's mayhem down there." Three men burst into the room. Taka lifted his head from the floor. "It's the Drones. They've all activated and gone mad. This is the last control level access terminal we've got left. You two, guard the door. I'm going to try to access them from here." The proctor signaled to the two guards. Kawaharu whispered to Takaharu.

"It's Kinuito. I could see her descending down on some kind of platform. There's a fight going on down there." Taka watched the two guards exit. The one that stayed, the proctor from before, picked up a device and held it to his ear.

"Yes, I can track all the Drone's locations, but I can't shut them down. I know. Lock down the lower levels and do not send anyone else down there. I'm seeing if any video feeds are still active." Taka watched the screen go from static to a clear picture. He could see Kinuito and an army of Hisanaga's together fighting off an army of guards.

"I see them Kawa." Taka whispered. "You were right. I wish there was some way we could help them." He grasped the metal bars again and shook them to no avail. The proctor cursed under his breath as he worked furiously.

"I think I've found a way to slow them down one at a time, standby." The proctor hit buttons at blazing speed on the table in front of him. Taka could see the Hisanaga's one by one slowing and getting beaten down by The Fellowship guards.

"Kinu is going to be in more trouble if they catch her."

"I can see the fight is starting to turn against her, but what can we do?" Kawa strained to keep using her clairvoyance.

"We're stuck here. We're useless." Taka kicked the bars. He focused, held his breath, and pulled on the bars again with all his might, but they laughed in reply. He reached between the bars and felt the lock and the key hole on the outside. The proctor was still focused on the window in front of him while Taka saw the keys to the cells hanging from his belt loop. He gritted his teeth. If only he could reach them. He fixed his gaze on the keys, their only chance at escape. His will seemed to take on a life of its own. Suddenly he could feel the keys, but not with his fingers. He could touch them, even smell their copper odor and taste them on his tongue. He could turn them and examine them in his mind's eye. He reached again for them with his will and he heard them jingle. The proctor turned at the sound, sneered at him, and turned back to his work. Taka licked his lips and took a deep breath. He reached out again, but this time for the clasp of the belt. He gently unbuttoned it and the keys came free. He caught them before they hit the floor and kept them silent. Gently he pulled them closer to him on what seemed like an invisible string. He tasted blood in his mouth and his forehead felt as though it would split in two. He paused as they floated in front of the bars within his grasp and he reached for them. He exhaled loudly and pulled the keys close.

arsid6366166 The proctor was still intent on his work and Taka couldn't believe his own eyes. He turned the keys in his hands and silently unlocked his cell door with the proctor still completely oblivious. He wouldn't have much time to act. The guards could come in at any time. He had to help Kinuito in any way he could. He silently snuck toward the proctor and planned to wrestle him into the cell he had been in. Then hopefully barricade the door somehow.

He grabbed the proctor's arm and twisted it behind him like he'd seen Tsurumatsu do before. The proctor's surprise gave him a slight advantage, but he was still much bigger than him. He called for the guards, but Taka covered his mouth with his other hand. The proctor used that moment to overpower him and he twisted his arm free.

"Impressive, I knew you had potential in you, but how unfortunate that you've chosen to use it so poorly." He shifted his feet around Taka's and put him off balance causing him to stumble backward. "Guards, get in here!" The door slid open and the two were instantly on top of Taka. "Put him back in the cell. It seems we did get lucky with the twins." They threw him back in and beat him for good measure. "The commotion downstairs will be dealt with. There is nowhere they can run." Taka clutched his bruised ribs.

"I told you that you don't scare me." Taka spit blood to the floor. His survival instincts took over. His mind seemed to awaken for the first time and he could feel the first guard's nose crunch into his face as he flew backward into the wall.

"Taka, what are you doing?" Kawa called concerned from her cell.

"I'm getting you out of here." He took a step out of his cell and stared at the second guard's arms and legs flailing as he lifted him up into the air. He turned his attention then to the proctor at his console. He had his back to the table and looked paralyzed in fear.

"You." Taka took a step toward the proctor and the levitating guard flew head first into his cell with a muted thud followed by silence. Kawa was silent as well, unsure if she should be scared or relieved for her brother's new found power.

arsid6366166 The proctor reached into his belt as if he'd just remembered he had something. He struggled to free his hand from his pocket and Taka took another step closer breathing heavily. He felt his strength waning and he wasn't sure how much he had left in him. The proctor whimpered as Taka made him lift the handheld device from his pocket and hold it to his own chest. The device sparked and he immediately fell limp to the ground.

"I wish I had time to hook you up to that machine and see how you like it." Taka grit his teeth and spit blood again. "I don't think we have a lot of time Kawa." He unlocked her cell with the keys.

"Taka, please do not hurt anyone anymore. I don't know what they're going to do to us if they catch us now." She helped steady him on his feet.

"I won't let them catch you. They've taken everything from us Kawa. I'll never forgive them."

"Not everything, dear brother. Come on I'll help you." They struggled toward the door, but it slid open and welcomed 3 more guards. Taka pushed Kawa to the side and let out a guttural scream. The three guards flew through the door faster than they had come through it. He got to door and smashed the button pad on the wall.

"I don't think we're getting out of here Kawa, but that should buy us a little time." He jammed the door shut. Kawaharu searched her mind and tried to look around for Kinuito and Hisanaga.

"They're being chased out of the compound Taka. I think they might make it at least." Kawa tried to sound a little relieved. She could hear Taka smiling.

"Good, if she gets help maybe these guys will get what they deserve." More guards started banging on the door. "Hey, Kawaharu." He turned to her. She never liked when he used her full name. "Whatever happens if they come through-"

"Stop, there's nothing you need to say." She took a deep breath and nodded. "There are 6 outside. More coming down the hall. Maybe a dozen." Taka nodded to himself and went to Kawa. "I'm not sure where Shioseki is. I can't find any of the others either."

"It's okay." Taka said. "You've done enough." He grabbed her by the arms and embraced her. He saw the console and the proctor unconscious behind them. "Didn't you say they were chasing Kinuito? The proctor said he could track Hisanaga. That means when they get in here they'll be able to find Kinuito wherever she goes."

"I think you're right." Kawa couldn't think straight, her mind in a panic. "What are you thinking of doing?"

"Stand back." Taka trudged to the console and window. He felt the metal edges of the desk. It was solid and had no openings or seems he could grab onto. He took a deep breath and pulled the console from the inside. He forced his will onto it and into it. He could feel it ripping from the inside out. Sparks flew from one side as he felt it give way. The entire metallic desk crushed in on itself. He could see the sparks flying from the console in front of him. His vision started to go dark and he could smell smoke. Then his legs gave way and he hit the floor. Kawa ran to him and tried to shake him awake.

"Takaharu!" The door to the room started to give way. The guards were prying it open little by little.

Her breath came short. This was it. They would come in and see what they'd done and it would be over. She clutched Takaharu close. Her clairvoyant vision became cloudy and everything went dark. She shut her eyes as hard as she could. Then she stifled a scream when she suddenly saw herself alone in a pitch black expanse. They were no longer in the cell room with the guards; Takaharu lay in her arms. She looked around and black fog enveloped everything. Then she could see figures around her. Twelve guards circled frantically around her, but they didn't touch her. She could distantly hear them talking.

"Where'd they go? What's all this black fog? Does anyone see them?" Kawa froze, too scared to move. Was she dead? Was she invisible? She felt sick to her stomach. She didn't know what to do, she was stuck here. If only Taka was awake. She begged to him not to leave her alone.

"Sensei Shioseki." She breathed quietly. "What do I do Sensei?" And then she felt the black fog start sticking to her skin and enveloping her and Takaharu.

o o o

Akafude led Shioseki and Tsurumatsu down the stairwell. Once they reached the bottom they came to a large double locked door.

"I don't know exactly where this leads; just that it goes further down." Akafude took a keyring from her belt pouch and unlocked both locks.

"So this is our only bet? Why not go back to the Library?" Tsurumatsu put his ear to the door.

"I know every inch of this place, especially the Library." She glanced looked to them both. "We have no way of opening the door in the Library. This door is the only mystery to me. If there is a way, it'll be here." She paused biting her lip. "I just want to make sure one last time that you know what you're getting all of us into Shio. I can take care of myself, but I worry that you don't realize how deep you're getting." She turned to Shioseki, but she wouldn't meet her eyes. Shio looked to Tsurumatsu and they nodded to each other. "Okay, if you think so." And Aka opened the door.

The first hallway was unremarkable. They came to an intersection and snuck passed patrolling guards. Akafude gave them a nod of relief. They knew they were on the right track.

"So what should we be looking for?" Tsurumatsu peaked around the next corner.

"These guards must be guarding something right?" Shio whispered. "Let's follow the patrols." They agreed and continued deeper into the stronghold. Akafude signaled for them to stop and pointed around the corner. There were two guards stationed outside a door.

"Seems like an important room to have guards outside it." Tsurumatsu smirked. "How do you want to handle them? One I can take without my spear, but-" Akafude interrupted him.

"I'll take the far one, you take the closer one." Tsuru looked at her with surprise, but then nodded. "Shio, how do you feel about being bait?" Aka and Tsuru both looked to her. Her eyes went glossy for a moment, but she looked back at them with determination and agreed.

"For the kids." She declared. Shio walked in into the middle of the intersecting hallways. "Hello? Do you know where the Historical Fiction section is? I got lost and can't find my way back." She feigned scratching her head and shrugged her shoulders.

"Stop where you are. You can't be here." The guards started toward Shio and she turned and ran the opposite way. They ran right past Tsuru and Aka who were ready for them. Tsuru pulled the helmet off the first one and got his arm around his neck. He fell to the ground silently. Aka stuck her foot out and tripped her quarry. She drew a thin rope and fixed it around his neck. She wrapped the rope around her arms and pinned his arms down with her body weight. He was quiet shortly after.

Shio looked away and feeling sick to her stomach. They dragged the guards to the door.

"You're sure about this Shio?" Akafude looked to her knowingly. "There's no going back. What we're doing here-"

"Yes, you don't have to question my resolve Akafude. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to save my children." She did make eye contact with Akafude this time. Tsuru listened for anyone inside the room and gave them the all clear.

"Shio-" Akafude started.

"Let's go. We'll talk after all this is done." She left her behind and they hid the guards inside the room. It was empty except for a console on one wall with a seat, window, and a display of buttons on the table in front of it.

"There's nothing here, should we keep going?" Tsurumatsu scanned the empty room.

"Maybe this works. I've seen one before." Akafude sat in the chair in front of the console. She pressed a button and the window lit up in front of her. "Maybe there's something here that might tell us where they are." Tsuru and Shio watched her navigate through the scrolling information.

"There!" Shio put her finger on the window. "Stop, I saw something." Aka scrolled up.

"Kiyoshima?" Tsuru scratched his chin. "Let's take a look." Aka selected it and a picture of the island and information on it appeared on screen.

"Kiyoshima. A mysterious island who's name predates the Yamato Empire and a native inhabitants spanning back just as long. Geologic scans unavailable. Wired and Wireless Network connections unavailable. Local legends suggest a powerful entity may reside on the island. Island Network connection is quarantined behind a firewall. No additional information available." Akafude read out loud.

"Look at the date here, that's just a few weeks ago." Shio pointed and Aka selected it and she gasped.

"Candidates Kawaharu and Takaharu. Kamunagi of Chains. Current Kamunagi count is zero. Should another Great One appear, Yamato is completely defenseless against it. Kamunagi candidate selection has determined these to be the best viable candidates."

"I told you, this is The Fellowship. I'm nothing but a pawn." Aka leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms. Shio took control of the console, mimicking her movements.

"The Kamunagi of Chains Latency Program uses ancient tools to speed up the manifestation of mutations in hidden and locked genetic code to release latent abilities in individuals. Observed phenomenon include, Clairvoyance, Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Shadow Walking." She creased her brow. She had heard of these things in her studies, but had never seen them performed. She feared what these kinds of tests would be putting Takaharu and Kawaharu through.

And just as if she'd summoned them herself. A dark fog gathered in the corner of the room. Swirling slowly at first and then coalescing into the shapes of Kawa cradling an unconscious Taka in her arms. All three of them audibly gasped and backed away.

"A demon?" Tsuru stood in front of Shio.

"Kawa?" Shio called to the figure.

"Sensei Shioseki?" She replied and they ran into each other's arms.


	9. Escape

**Chapter 9**

It was chaos. The clashing of metal put ringing into my ears. I hid under a desk as a Drone and a guard struggled against each other in front of me. It was impossible to tell who was winning. The Drones seemed to outnumber and overpower the guards, but they were well organized and their armor and sparking weapons kept them back. The Drones could only hide and wrestle the guards that came closest to the ground.

"Kinuito!" A Drone came rushing over to me and ducked down. "It's me, Hisanaga. Your Hisanaga." He smiled his polite and practiced smile.

"I don't know what I did, but it seems to be working." A guard flew over the top of the desk. "But what are we supposed to do now?"

"I've pieced together all the information I could gather from the other Drones here. Things are not good." I frowned. That was obvious. "I know where we need to go though. We can't stay here, we won't be able to use these communication consoles, but there is one close by that's still active. We've got to get back to the surface. That door is the only way out." Hisanaga pointed to the door on other side of the room and more guards poured in through it. "We don't stand a chance of getting there at the moment though." I thought. We did have bigger numbers at the moment. I wasn't sure how much the Drones would listen to me if I tried to command them.

"I've got an idea." We got out from under the desk. "Let's try a distraction to lure them away from the door." Hisanaga surveyed the room.

"We could send some to the far side and hopefully get them to move." I got up and stood on top of the desk.

"Hisanaga!" All the Drone's faces turned to me and caught me off guard for a moment and I pointed to the side as we planned. "Charge!" They moved in unison without hesitation. Immediately the first ones were struck to the ground with long spears that sparked on the end of them. More Drones moved in to take their place. I winced as I watched them get beaten down again and again. All with the same boy's face I had grown so fond of. I wiped my tears from my cheeks and grabbed Hisanaga's hand. We ran from cover to cover. I waved for more Drones to charge and they ran forward into danger defiantly, bravely, and foolishly. I swore I'd fix every one of them when this was all over. I would make sure The Fellowship got what it deserved.

We got to the doorway at a steep price, but once we were out there were even more guards in waiting. We adopted the same strategy. The Drones let loose a battle cry as they grappled with the army of guards. I noticed some of the Drones started to slow down, like they were getting tired or sleepy.

"This isn't good." Hisanaga looked at me worriedly. "There's something wrong, something is attacking from the inside. They're disabling us." I looked around as one by one they fell to their knees.

"How do we stop it?" I yelled to him, but he shook his head.

"I still can't access the network; I don't know what's going on out there." The Drones continued to fight in spite of the weight that seemed to be shifted onto their shoulders. The guards started to gain ground and I wasn't sure if we were going to make it anymore.

"Wait, look." Hisanaga tapped my shoulder. "They're waking up. Someone must have stopped them." The guards had advanced so far that the Drones started waking up behind them. As fast as they had gained the upper hand, the guards panicked and turned to run from them as they began surrounding them from behind. Soon they were in a full retreat.

"Let's go!" I yelled with renewed strength. We chased the guards through a hallway and made it to the room with the main lift. The last of the guards were there. We fought our way up to the lift and saw their trap. There were side rooms just out of sight next to the lift and hordes of guards rushed from them.

"Come on, we've got to go Kinuito, this is our only chance to leave!" We were cornered into the wall with the lift's door. "There's not enough space for everyone." I growled to myself and took one last frustrated look around.

"I'll come back for you!" I yelled between sobs. "I promise! You hear me?" The Drones continued their hand to hand struggled with the guards and we entered the lift and shut the door.

We slowly rose off the ground and picked up speed. I banged on the glass and looked on the fight below us. Hisanaga put his hand on my shoulder and held me as I sobbed.

"Where are we going Hisanaga? We've got to stop all this." I wiped my face clean with my sleeve. I was ready to do whatever it took.

"There is a communications hub just outside of town that's still functional according to my information. We need to access it and we should be able to fix Amatertsu, the weather stabilization satellite, from there." I closed my eyes.

"And you'll go back to sleep?"

"Yes, my protocol will be fulfilled and all will be right. That is what we agreed to do. Right?"

"Of course." I shook the unpleasant thought from my head. "That will make everything right. The island will be safe again." I managed a slight smile at that.

We arrived at the top of the lift after some time and surprisingly no guards were to be seen. My ears were perked and we checked around every corner anticipating a trap. Hisanaga led all the way back to the Library. We passed some students and fled silently out the front gate which was also unmanned.

We got to the street and were immediately met with a gust of wind. I looked above us and saw the angry clouds looming.

"Better get inside kids." A passing stranger waved to us. "Quite a storm on the way from the looks of it." Hisanga grabbed my hand and broke into a run I could barely keep pace with.

o o o

"Sounds like the guards are making their way to this side of the compound." Tsurumatsu checked the hallway outside their room.

"I can help us avoid patrols with my eyes." Kawaharu offered. Shio gave a look at her with pain on her face. "Don't worry Sensei Shioseki it doesn't hurt." She smiled weakly. It clearly took a toll on her. "And I'm sorry, but I don't even know how Taka and I got here, so I couldn't do that again if I tried."

"Don't forget about me." Takaharu managed to get to his feet. "I just needed a nap, I can still help." He stretched his arms over his head as if just waking from a dream.

"Fighting the army of guards they have at their disposal is a futile thought." Akafude commented. She leaned on the wall away from the group. She was calculating how they should proceed in light of the twin's unexpected appearance. "You two just got a whole lot more valuable to them too."

"Yeah I think speed might be our best asset right now. We can't afford to stand here and think. We've got to move now if we want a chance." Tsurumatsu looked to Shioseki. "Akafude, you would know the best way out of here. So you, Shio, Taka and Kawa should head out and I'll create a diversion. I'm sure I can keep them busy long enough for you to get outside."

"No way am I leaving you behind Tsuru." Taka unexpectedly spoke up before anyone else. "I'll stay with Tsuru. Besides, one person isn't much of a diversion. You'll need someone else, right?" Tsuru looked troubled at Taka and then to Shio. She shook her head. "Sensei Shio, please get my sister out of here." He put his hands together and begged her.

"Okay Takaharu." She nodded. "We're going to make sure you two get out too though. Got it? No heroics. You too Tsuru." She gave them both motherly looks. They both smiled. "Aka, Kawa. Let's go. If what Kawa said is true and Kinu has already escaped we've got to catch up to them." They all agreed and they ran from the room. Taka and Tsuru went the opposite direction toward the sounds of the guard's footsteps. They got the attention of a group of them and gave chase.

The girls followed Akafude through the twisting hallways, only stopping to avoid patrols. It seemed like they might make it back to the university area when a guard spotted them. They weren't very fast together, since Kawa had to be led by Shioseki.

"You two have got to go." Akafude stopped. "You know the rest of the way." She gave Shio a small nod and she returned the gesture.

"Be careful. I still need to talk to you." Shio made her promise.

"I know." She said and turned toward the guards. She managed to grab one and flip him over her shoulder and she smirked.

"Come on Kawa, this way, we're almost there!" Shio led the way and prayed with all her heart that somehow everyone would get out okay.

o o o

The rain pelted us as we ran and just as I was going to thank our luck that it wasn't cold I felt an icy gale come from ahead. We ran together for what felt like forever. I couldn't believe how far the city streets went. They were empty this time though; no one in their right mind would be running through this storm. My legs ached and my feet were starting to go numb. Hisanaga kept pace in front of me, turning to check in every now and then. The cold cut through our dripping wet clothes, but he didn't slow at all. I wondered if he felt any of this. He never seemed to get tired. The rain slowed and I sighed with relief, but then I felt something else start sticking to my face, snowflakes. Another gust of icy wind hit us and my jaw started chattering uncontrollably.

"Hisanaga, how much farther is it? Do you really need me?" I slowed my pace and panted heavily.

"I do need you Kinuito. I am simply a Drone meant to assist you. I have basic access permissions, but you will have to perform the repair sequence." I could hear him, but I couldn't reply. I couldn't even peice the words together anymore. "Kinu?" I smiled and felt myself falling. Hisanaga caught me and fixed me onto his back. He piggy backed me through the snowfall, which was getting thicker. The wind licked at my skin and it burned now. I started to feel sleepy and closed my eyes. My thoughts were swimming. What were we doing again? I felt as if I was on the boat making my way across the sea. Hisanaga kept a steady, bumpy pace. I lost track of time and I dozed off once or twice.

"Kinuito!" I heard my name from far off. I blinked my eyes open and lifted my head. I was lying on the ground with snow around me. "Get up, we're here." He grabbed my hand. I looked up and saw Hisanaga's friendly face and he helped me to my feet.

"Where are we again?" I rubbed my head and my eyes. The snow continued to fall.

"Here come this way." It looked like we were in the out skirts of the city. Farmland and mountains surrounded us. Hisanaga carried me toward a smooth door in the wall. It lit up and let us inside. It was immediately warmer out of the wind. I got my balance and looked around. It was just like the cave in The Circle. He made a faint light emit from his hand and we cautiously proceeded through the hallways. We made a few turns and up ahead I could see light at the end of the tunnel.

It opened up into a large room, easily the largest room, and in the center was the tallest, largest object I'd ever seen. It was a polished silver and stood on 3 legs. The top resembled a birds beak and it had long smooth curves all the way down its surface. Hisanaga ran to a small side room with an open door and waved me inside.

"We've made it Kinu, although, this wasn't what I was expecting. Let me see what kind of access this terminal has." He approached a desk and starting tapping away at it.

"What is that Hisa? A castle?" He chuckled and turned to me.

"You're not that far off. It's sort of a castle. It's a flying castle. A sky castle!" I blinked.

"A castle in the sky?" It dawned on me then. "Oh no, I am not getting in that thing." I crossed my arms and turned my head determinedly. I peaked at Hisanaga for his reaction but he stared at the window light up in front of him intently. "What is it?" My curiosity asked.

"There are some unexpected variables." He stood back and put his hand to his chin. "It's missing some components. Maybe it was never finished being built."

"Oh well, guess we'll have to find a better way that doesn't involved flying maybe?" I chimed hopefully.

"It can fly but," he paused weighing his words. "I'll have to fuse with the castle. Become one with it. I will be the castle." My eye brows creased.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the ship doesn't have a brain. I will need to become its brain." He frowned and turned his face from me. "And I don't know if I'll be able to separate from it." I saw his fists clench. "I must fulfill my protocol. I must assist Kinuito." He said to himself more than me. "No matter the repercussions. Come on, we don't have any time to lose." He started to leave the room with his face turned from me.

"Hisa wait, part of my mission, my protocol, is to save everyone. I can't do that without you. I have to protect you too." He approached a stand with an array of buttons outside the flying castle.

"You can't protect me. I'm a Drone." He turned to me with his same practiced smile. "I only wish to be a helpful tool to you until I am no longer necessary." I thought I saw something glint in his eyes. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me.

"Listen Hisanaga, this is a command." I pulled his chin up to look him in the eyes. "You will always be necessary." He smiled again at that.

"Yes, Kinuito." I sighed and let go of his shoulders, realizing how close we were. "Let's go." A door opened in the side of the castle and a ramp came down. "Head inside and I'll walk you through." My hair stood on end. I had forgotten about the flying part. "Don't worry Kinu." He grabbed my shoulder then. "I will keep you safe. You are necessary." I needed to hear that. I steeled my nerves and walked up the ramp into the castle.

"Follow the lights." I heard Hisanaga's voice come from the walls and a trail of blue lights on the ceiling lead me to a small lift. I entered it and was released into what looked like the top of the castle. There were windows I could see above. A door opened next me and displayed 3 hanging pairs of clothes. "Put one of them on. They will adjust to fit your size." I flung the suit over my head and got it on. It shrunk down to my small size and gave me only a small heart attack. I couldn't help but wonder at the things the ancients made. Afterward, I climbed to the top and fit myself into one of the seats that was actually fastened to the wall from where I had come in. "Put your arms through the loops in the seat behind you and press the flashing green button in front of you." I did so, but stopped with my hand over the button. I took three slow breaths.

"Don't worry everyone, I'll be back and I'll see you all soon." I pressed the button.


	10. Hisanaga

**Chapter 10**

Shioseki and Kawaharu approached the entrance to the courtyard. Blustering, icey winds cut their faces.

"It looks like a storm is coming soon. There's no body out here."

"Wait," Kawa used her Clairvoyance. "It is a trap, there are people out here." Kawa struggled to use her clairvoyance, but she was running out of strength. Her mind's eye was blurry and dark. Shioseki looked around the courtyard. It did seem suspiciously quiet.

"I trust you. Let's find another way out." Shio took her hand and they skirted around the perimeter of the courtyard. "I know another way out. They used to get deliveries of food for the kitchens from a back entrance." They wound their way through the dorm hallways and into the cafeteria which was also empty. "It's definitely errie to see this place so vacant. Let's be quiet just in case." They walked through the lined tables; their soft footsteps the only sound in the room. Entering the kitchens they saw a fire was set, but no cooks around. "That's odd. Stay close Kawa." They went to the back of the kitchens and passed the butchering area with fresh meet left hanging. The next area was a wide warehouse full of dried food and spices in sacks and boxes of all sizes stacked high above their heads. "The exit should be in the back." Shio quietly led Kawa through the aisles. The back door came into view and she sighed in relief.

Kawa yelped as a hand from behind her pulled away.

"Shio!" there were 3 guards ready in waiting. Shio pulled a paper talisman from her robe and flicked it faster than the eye could see. The needle attached to the talisman stuck directly into the guard's helmet on his forehead. A second passed and a burst of flame erupted where his face used to be. Kawa ducked to the ground as the ash fell from his head. The other two guards circled her. She pulled a second paper talisman from her sleeve and it instantly connected with one guard's ankle. He screamed as his foot turned to solid ice and attached to the floor. She feinted a punch at the second guard's head and he reached for her. She slid under his shoulder and injected her elbow into his chin just under his helmet. His arms fell to his sides and he fell apart on the floor. "Come on, before more come!" She helped Kawa up and they ran out the back door into the snow with the last guard still clutching his frozen foot.

o o o

Takaharu and Tsurumatsu split directions. The hallways of the compound underneath the university were an organized grid that frequently connected back on itself. They made short work of figuring the lay out. It was easy to lead the troups of guards around in circles until they were both out of breath. Takaharu kept up despite using all his energy earlier and only recently becoming conscious. They reunited at an intersection.

"Looks like they've wised up to our game, Tsuru." Taka laughed. He was having fun in the face of danger. All four directions had a cadre of guards converging on them. "Follow me this way, I've got a trick I haven't shown you yet." Tsuru agreed reluctantly.

"If I had my spear this would be a lot easier."

"I've got something better." Taka flashed a grin that worried Tsuru more than a little. He charged toward an incoming group and threw a punch forward. Like a ball of air shot down the center of the group they flew to all four sides of the hallway. Taka laughed as he jumped over them. Tsuru's face was of astonishment. He swallowed hard and followed his lead.

"We should make our way out," Tsuru called up ahead. "I hope we've given everyone enough time." Taka agreed. They were met with another guard patrol around the next corner. Taka clapped his hands together and the guards flew into each other and onto the floor.

"Too easy." Taka laughed again. Tsuru could tell he was out of breath and using his ability was taxing him.

"Let's go up these stairs, we should be close to the courtyard." Tsuru took the lead and went at a pace Taka could match. They approached the courtyard and peaked around the corner. They couldn't be sure that no one was there. A blizzard was howling and it was a perfect place for a trap.

"Move quietly, we don't know how many there could be out here hiding." Tsuru ducked behind a pillar and poked his head out.

"Not like any of them can stop us now, the exit's straight ahead." Taka walked between the pillars and into the open. "See?" Tsuru scowled at him and motioned him back. Taka got to the middle of the courtyard. A figure was up ahead, blocking the doorway.

"Looks like they ran out of reinforcements, there's just one left. Let's get out of here." Taka threw a punch toward the figure, but it had disappeared. He felt the blizzard and wind working against him. Either it was harder to use his ability against the powerful winds or he was running out of the strength to do it. Tsuru circled around the perimeter of the courtyard trying his best to see the figure. He neither saw nor heard any sign of it.

"Be careful Taka, this isn't one of the guards from before." He yelled across the courtyard in hopes he could hear him over the blizzard's gale, but then he heard Taka yell and when he looked for him he was gone.

"Taka!" He called out, but there was no answer. He ran to the middle of the courtyard looking for him. He could see the footprints still in the snow. Two pairs went back toward the university. He saw the figure for a moment while it walked back inside. Running as fast as he could, he bounded toward the doorway.

"Don't move, Tsurumatsu." He felt a blade at his back and he raised his hands. It was a familiar and light voice.

"Akafude?"

o o o

Kinu feels the whole castle rumbling. She looks out the window in front of her and grips her straps on her seat. The roof splits open and the light and snow crack through it.

"Hold on tight." Hisanaga's voice comes in from the walls. Kinu grips the seat as tight as she can. The flying castle steadily picks up speed and then blasts through the opening in the ceiling.

"All parameters nominal. Velocity check met. Beginning ascent." Hisanaga's voice chimed. Kinu clenched her jaw as they flew faster and faster. She saw through the front windows the mountains of clouds of the snow storm. The castle rumbled and jolted from side to side as they pierced the heavens. Once they were through, it was nothing but a crystal clear blue expanse before her. It was beautiful, but she was still clamped her hands to her seat. "Altitude check met. Phase two boosters engaged. The castle rumbled again and she could see a speed indicator climbing rapidly. The blue sky faded and she could start to see the blackness of the night sky and the twinkle of stars. "Radar detection. Incoming foreign objects. Please brace for evasive maneuvers." Kinu saw black blurs flying across the windows.

She slowly felt the pressure lift from her body. She could move her arms and legs freely again.

"Ready Kinuito? Here it is." She looked out the window and a collosal and magnificent object came into view. "Amateratsu." It had four reflective wings like a butterfly and a body that resembled a flower.

"It's beautiful." She marveled as it sparkled and glowed against the dark sky.

"No response from docking crew. Engaging auto-docking measures." They flew closer and the castle connected with a seperate space station. Kinu unstrapped from her seat and followed the lights on the ceiling to a round door that spun open for her.

"You might want to put on your helmet, just in case. Press the collar of your suit." She felt around her collar and pressed the button. A clear film came up and went around her head like a bubble. She pressed it with her fingers and it was slightly softer than glass. She entered the doorway and stood before another door.

"Initiating pairing sequence." The door behind her closed and the front door opened. It was a similar lay out to the castle they flew on. She walked through and came to a large circular room full of clear windows that gave her a view of her home, the sun, and Amateratsu. She put her face to the window and couldn't take her eyes away. The sphere in front of her gave off a faint blue glow. The blue of the seas and the stark green of the mountainous lands. It was much bigger than she could wrap her head around. She would never get to see it all in one lifetime.

"Standby while I parse the logs. Try not to touch anything in the meantime."

"It's so beautiful. The ancient beings came all the way up here? Did they leave our land? What else could be out here?" Kinu turned and explored the other areas of the space station. She perked her ears at a sound she thought she heard. "Hisa. Is there anyone else here?"

"No personnel detected." She swallowed hard and walked down the corridor. She peaked inside a room that held two beds. She heard it again from behind her. It was a sort of squirming sound, then the rushing of fluids. She crept down the hall and came to a sealed door with a small window in the center. She poked her head up to look through it and a red mass slammed against the door. It rattled and vibrated like it might give way to the giant mass.

"What is that?!" Kinu said clutching her chest.

"Oh, I believe your name for that would be 'Tatari'." Hisanaga answered calmly. "Do not worry, it is contained."

"I asked you if anyone else was here!" She yelled at him while steadying her breath.

"You didn't ask if there were any danger."

"I'm really going to hurt you when we get back home."

"Good news, Amateratsu is operational. We only need to reposition the satellite. Bad news, this installation has been knocked out of position."

"What does that mean?"

"When we input the commands to reorient Amateratsu, this space station will be in direct line of sight with the satallite's warming effects. Causing temperatures to rise to- well, too hot. We won't want to be here when that happens."

"What should we do?"

"Enter the commands and hope for the best."

"Won't we both be in danger? I promised I'd protect you. And you promised you'd protect me. Remember? We can't do anything that would hurt the other, right?" Hisanaga paused.

"At this point in the mission, we must take the risk. Without taking the risk, the mission will fail." He paused again, calculating every scenario through. "Kinuito. Should we risk our safety, for the safety of everyone else?" Kinuito smiled contently.

"I'm glad you see it that way Hisanaga. It means you don't see yourself as a tool anymore. You and I are friends. We're family. Right? So you don't even have to ask. Let's do it." Hisanaga walked her through inputting the commands on the console. When they got to the last step they paused.

"Once you input the command, run as fast as you can to the airlock, just like we talked about."

"And get back home safely." Kinu finished for him.

"Yes." He said unconvincingly. Kinu took a breath and put her finger over the button.

"I never was very good at speeches or being dramatic, but this feels like one of those moments." She thought back to her Shogi games with Kawaharu and Takaharu. "Let's just make it back home to everyone." She tapped the button and spun on her heel. Lights flashed and beeps sounded from the console. She made it to the airlock and Hisanaga closed the door behind her.

"Unpairing. Standby."

"Hurry!" The door spun open and Kinu ran to her seat and strapped in.

"Evacuation proceedures engaged. Clear airlock. Docking systems disengaged. Prepare for departure." The castle rumbled once again and she felt it begin to move. The ship spun back and she could see her home in front of them. She made it to her seat just as the castle burst forward. She saw red alarms go off on the panel beside her.

"Hull temperatures exceeding clearances. Override Auto Pilot safety measures?"

"Yes!" Kinu yelled just as Hisa instructed her. The ship sped forward and rumbled as if it would shake apart. It continued to get worse. Kinu was almost resigned to accept her fate. They had completed the mission. Everyone would be safe at, least, even if they didn't make it, but just then, the rumbling stopped. She opened her eyes and let her breath escape her lungs again.

"We are out of line of site of Amateratsu." Hisanaga's voice toned. "Landing coordinates locked in." Kinuito laughed out loud and yelled in triumph.

"Well done, Hisa. I knew you could do it." She wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Reentry will begin shortly. Hold on tight, it will be bumpy." Shio watched the big blue planet get closer and closer. She already couldn't wait to tell everyone what she had seen. She saw some red lights going off again.

"Debris detected, engaging evasive maneuvers." She felt the engines groan and up ahead she could see the specks getting bigger. Giant shredded pieces of metal. They looked to be part of other castles and satellites.

"Warning, evasive calculations inadequate. Recalculating. No possible outcomes of avoidance. Engaging safety measures." She started to hear a light rain on the walls of the castle, like tiny rocks skipping across water. A bigger one hit and jolted her head to the side. "Fuel pressure dropping. Engine System status unknown. Brace for scuttle impact."

"Hisa, what does all this mean? Are we okay?" There was no reply. The small sounds from the outside started to get bigger. She heard doors begin closing behind her.

"Cabin pressure unknown. Velocity unknown. Auto Pilot Systems unavailable."

"Hisa, say something!" A loud bang behind her left her ears ringing. She could feel the air around her getting hotter.

"Kinuito." She barely heard him say. "Thank you for helping me. Mission complete." Her head thrashed back and forth as the impacts continued hitting the sides of the castle. "I feel happy we could do that together. I don't know if I can keep you safe anymore. I'm sorry. I will miss you. Please forgive me."


	11. Atuykarounkami

**Chapter 11**

Tsurumatsu spun his body away from Akafude, the back of his clothes tearing on the blade.

"I knew something was off about you." He assumed a fighting stance. "But why? Are really so heartless?" Takaharu lay unconscious behind her.

"Don't preach to me soldier boy." She spat. "I only do what I have to. Just like you or anyone else."

"I don't know how you sleep at night, but if that's what you tell yourself, you're a better liar than I gave you credit for." He inched closer to her. "Why help us at all though? Did you want us to find out about all this? Is this some sick way of clearing your conscience?"

"Flattering. I did want Shio to see the truth for herself. I hoped she might see things differently, but I know now I won't be able to change her mind. For whatever reason her heart's stuck on that island even still as it sinks into the sea. She doesn't seem to think much of you either." She giggled innocently.

"It's not the island she cares about, it's the people." Aka shook her head.

"She's an idealist. You know this as much as I. This country might seem to be rising from its ashes, but it's still very fragile. Certain assurances and certain prices," she glanced at Takaharu. "must be paid. You paid your dues in the war, you know how it works."

"I do understand." He edged ever closer to her, just outside of grappling range. "If that's all there is to it. I'm sorry, but these kids are more than you and The Fellowship can afford." He burst into a sweeping kick to take her off her feet. She flew into a spinning kick and he shouldered the blow and moved in close. He grabbed her wrist and wrenched the dagger out of her grip. It fell to the ground. She reversed his grip and freed herself dancing away. He feinted a grapple and burst up into an uppercut, but she parried it away. She moved in close beside him and tried to take him off balance, but he spun backwards, locked his foot between hers and brought her to the ground.

"Tsuru? Aka?" Takaharu rubbed his head as he woke up. "What's going on?"

"She's Fellowship Taka. She betrayed us." He held her in a headlock from behind.

"You? You're the one that brought us here. You kidnapped us? Kinuito and Kawaharu. All of this because of you?" Taka struggled to come to terms with the idea.

"I'm going to put her out. Hopefully long enough to get out of here. If she's smart she won't even try to follow us." Tsuru tightened his grip on her. She said not a word. Taka put his hand on his shoulder.

"No." He threw Tsuru back against the wall with his unhuman strength. "That's not good enough. Not for her." Tsuru coughed as the air from his lungs escaped him. "She has to pay for this. For what she did to my sister." Aka tried to turn and run, but felt herself lifted into the air.

"Taka wait" He coughed. "You don't know what you're doing." Taka flicked his hand over his shoulder and Tsuru's head connected with the wall. He went silent. Aka turned to see his gnarled face ripped between sadness and rage. He yelled her name as loud and as venomously as he could. Splittle flying from his mouth. Tears falling from his chin.

"Akafude!" And her expression went blank. Her arms and legs ceased fighting and he dropped her. His face hit with sudden realization. "What have I done?" He pressed his fingertips into his face. All his broken mind could manage was a slow forced laugh.

o o o

The snowflakes continued to fall around Shioseki and Kawaharu. They waited by the docks where they all agreed to meet. Shio tried not to think about how much time had passed. She saw the pattern as the snowflakes fell; it mesmerized her. They hid out of the icey winds reach near a large boat by the water.

"How long has it been?" Kawa softly asked.

"I don't know. Too long." Shio replied listlessly.

"Let me see if I can find them again." Kawa sat down and closed her eyes.

"Don't strain yourself. We may need your ability later."

"Oh I see them! They're in the courtyard, all of them. Aka, Tsuru, and Taka." She stopped with her face turning confused. "Is that Aka? It couldn't be." She put her hand to her mouth.

"What do you see?" Sio shuffled next to her.

"They're fighting. Aka and Tsuru are fighting. Why would they-"

"Akafude." Shio put her palms to her face. "She must be with The Fellowship. I had my fears, but I didn't want to believe it. Not after everything."

"It's all too hazy to see now. What are we going to do?" They sat in silence and the snow continued to build on the ground around them. Shio got up and walked into the open and looked up into the sky. Their journey to Naaru was playing out in her head. The clouds were starting to part back toward Kiyoshima. She could see the island again in her mind. The stars peaked through the black sky and just then she saw a shooting star. Was it an omen? Kinuito jumped to the front of her mind. She folded her hands in front of her and closed her eyes.

"Please, let Kinuito be safe." Her hair hung in the wind and the waves drummed rythmically.

"I could do that. For a price." A voice sung.

"Who's there?" Shioseki turned. It sounded like it came from the water. She looked over the edge. Below she saw the most beautiful woman's face materialising in the waves.

"Kinuito? I could keep her safe." The voice gurgled through the water. "I preside over sky and sea. Will you make a deal with me?"

"Sensei, are you over there? I'm seeing something nearby. Something big. Something scary." Kawa called to Shio. The wind whispered in her ears.

"Why would I make a deal with you, Demon?" Shio broke the first rule of her training. Never speak to them.

"I stand in the position that I can help you. I know your situation and I speak true. Would you like to know what happened to Kinuito?"

"What happened to her? Where is she?" Shio's voice began trembling. The face gathered up and came up out of the water writhing like a snake with a woman's face.

"She's dead." The face smiled.

o o o

Tsurumatsu lifted his head from the ground. His eyes wouldn't focus. The back of his head was wet with blood. He staggered to his feet and looked about. The hallway was empty. He remembered the fight with Akafuda. And Takaharu. He'd had gone mad. He was alone now. It was a hopeful thought that he'd still make it to Shioseki and Kawaharu. Hopefully they were safe. Hopefully Shio would understand what happened.

The snow continued to fall and he left uneven black foot prints behind him. He made his way through the winding streets of Naaru to the docks where everyone agreed to meet. He could barely make out the two figures he saw through the snowy breeze.

"Shio, Kawa, is that you?" He called out as he approached. Kawa rushed to Shio as she fell limp to the ground.

"Tsuru, help!" Kawa called to him. He ran to her side and then noticed the unnatural spray of water on his face. He looked through the snowy veil and beheld a watery snake with the face of a beautiful woman coiled above him. His heart felt heavy and his knees betrayed him. "She made a deal with it. She traded her life to keep Kinuito safe." Kawa sobbed. His face was frozen in denial.

"What? No, not Shio." Tsuru shook her in his arms unwilling to accept her fate. "What kind of monster are you." He yelled to the creature.

"Monster is one of many a name. I do not fight, but I can offer you the same on this night. If it is vengeance you seek, you have to act. We can make a deal, just agree to my contract." Tsuru wiped his tears from his cheeks.

"What could you possibly do for me?" He yelled into the wind.

"Whatever shall I do? Could I bring her back for you? I will reverse Life and Death, but not for free. Our pact shall be made, but you must do the same for me." Tsuru looked the watery visage in the eyes. He was unblinking and unflinching and so was she.

"Do it." He wiped the snowflakes from Shio's closed eyes. The watery snake retreated back into the sea and all that could be heard was the wind and waves. Then her eyes did flutter and her mouth opened.

"Tsuru?" And he hugged her close.

"Shio."

o o o

The moonlight reflected in through the cracks in the rocks and bounced off of the dust that was still settling. It was silent, but it was not empty. The wreckage of the flying castle was strewn about. Rocks began giving way from the ceiling, bouncing down through two floors of rock and metal.

She felt liquid dripping on her hand. It was cold. Her eyes opened weakly. She rolled herself over and laid on her back. She wiggled her toes and fingers. Her arms and legs both worked. She was fine? How could that be? She felt her stomach and her face. No scratches. No pain at all. Was this being dead? She sat up.

"Hello?" She was inside the flying castle. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "Hisanaga." she whispered. "Hisanaga!" she yelled, but there was no answer. Nothing but dripping fluids and wrent metal. She tip toed her way through the wreckage and scanned her surroundings. They had crashed into a mountain. There was two floors above them, she could see where the castle had broken through the floor of an underground building. Around her was the familiar smooth stone that they had found under the university and inside The Circle.

Then she saw, at the far end of the room, was a chair. No, it was a throne. There were no lights, save the moonlight, but the throne glowed. The being on top of the throne glowed. Kinu's first instinct was to bow to it. It commanded authority without speaking it. Her hair was long down to her hips. She wore a simple white robe over one shoulder. Her hair was a glistening aqua like the sea and in her hand was a long golden trident.

"Come, daughter." It called to her. She rose from her knees and approached her, shaking.

"You have no reason to fear me, I am no danger to you. I seldom receive company, especially not bursting through." It tried to seem reassuring, but Kinu swallowed hard and still could not attempt a response.

"You have questions no doubt. I am in a gracious mood, so let them out. Speak." Kinu's mouth was compelled to open.

"I'm Kinuito, of Kiyoshima."

"I know who you are. Welcome home Kinuito. You are back on Kiyoshima. Though you are alone." She waved her hands in a grand gesture. "Do you know who you are? Listen to me." Before should answer she continued. "You are a Proxy. A servant meant to serve humans. Everyone in Yamato, in every place, everyone left in the world are Proxies left behind by an ancient race. They are our creators. We are combinations of animals and clones of those from times long past. We are all that is left and maybe the last." Kinu struggled to make sense of it all.

"I am not a Proxy, you may have guessed. I have many names, but I technically don't really exist." She got up from her throne. Twice as tall as a normal person. Faster than Kinu's eyes could follow she thrust her trident into her stomach. Kinu flinched, but then saw the trident passed right through her. Like a spirit.

"I exist in a machine as a protocol. I'm a program. I have no mass. I am not really here. Just a fragment of a dream long passed. I too served the humans. I fought for them, but I failed them. You are the property of Administrator Motoo Kimura. A very high ranking scientist that lived here on Kiyoshima. You gained the Administrator's Priviledges when you came here and activated one of my agents. Hisanaga you called him. He must have been damaged in the earthquakes. The Fellowship gathered all of my agents and cut my connections, even with everyting at stake. They quarantined me here, so only I remain. I couldn't stop them from from finding it. One of my last directives. Kasai. The protocol I am meant to contain." Kinu tried to follow along.

"Ah yes, as a matter of fact," it continued. "You are alive because I brought you back." Kinu gasped.

"Oh, thank you!" She bowed her head.

"No thanks needed for my aid." She smirked. "The price has been paid." Kinu looked confused.

"All of this is so new to me, I don't mean to impose on you, but what am I supposed to do now? What about Hisanaga? I'm sure he brought me here for a reason."

"I only act in deals." Her piercing gaze fixed on Kinu. "and my graciousness has lost its appeal." Kinu stepped back.

"For a price, though it may be steep, I can see it in your eyes." She took a step toward her. "I believe I could arrange something. If you can pay the price." Kinu thought back to Gennai when he had offered her a deal. Her mouth hung open but nothing came out.

"Your parents loved you so. Or do you miss the Drone from below?" She said with a laugh. Kinu froze realizing she could read her mind and her laughter echoed off the walls.


	12. Epilogue

The sun bled onto the horizon and melted orange onto the blue sea. The wind was cool and even and carried the smell of freshly cooked fish with it. Crabs skittered across the sand and birds sung to each other. They settled in the leaves of the trees that were turning yellow and green again to make their nests. The beginnings of flowers were starting to show their faces.

Candles were lit in the houses along the coastline as the sunlight faded. A mother came to kiss her little girl goodnight. She tucked her in and patted her head.

"Goodnight, my little one, my Kinuito." The father walked in with a cup of water.

"Goodnight my darling." He offered the cup to the little girl.

"Thank you mother; thank you father." The little girl smiled a toothy grin.

"Sweet dreams." The mother blew out the candle and they left the room. The little girl closed her eyes and sighed, but she had left her window shutters open, so they squeaked and ricocheted off the walls in the breeze

She covered her head, but then she heard footsteps from outside, Slow and shambling. A long fingered hand with pointed claws rested on the window sill. A bulbous tentacle head with needled teeth and swollen eyes peered into the girl's bedroom.

She slowly drew her blankets away and blinked her eyes at the creature staring back at her. There was a faint green glow and then a flash of golden metal. The Creature stumbled back into one of its friends, headless. The creature growled and drooled. Then it met the stare of a little girl with eyes agleam and golden trident anchored at her side. It cradled itself in its arms, let out a low shriek, and tumbled away into the forest. The shutters on the window were closed. The green light faded and the little girl nestled back into her blankets.

Outside the small town by the seaside and through the snaking paths of the forest, there was another girl. Up the rocky faces of the cliffs in the heart of the island, a woman with long aqua hair and a white robe watched the dazzling sunset from her plateau just above the tree line and with her was a small boy.

"Is there anything I can do, ma'am?" He bowed.

"You don't have to call me that. Just stay here with me, Hisanaga."

o o o

There was the kind of silence that only came after a crescendo. Sparks fell from the ceiling and revealed the concave dents that peppered the walls of the hallway. Down into the stairwell, guards and scholars littered the floor in a deep slumber or worse. The steady beat of the boy's footsteps announced his presence, but he was not all there. Ever downward he went, without way or purpose. He carried only the thought that if he stopped his past might catch up to him.

Eventually, he was met by a sliding door that had malfunctioned. It dug into the floor as it screeched closed and then smoothly slide open. It repeated this exercise until he clawed it with one hand midway. The mechanism groaned as it ground its gears to work against him. He forced it back into the wall farther than it was meant to go and it too went silent.

Inside the room was a singular source of light. A screen was lit and flashed bold red text in the center. The boy could see the contrasting letters beckoning him.

"Welcome." They said. "Start Kasai? Y/N"


End file.
